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\/ A Reprint of Economic Tracts 

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Edited by 

JACOB H. HOLLANDER* Ph. D. 
Professor of Political Economy 
Johns Hopkins University 


George Berkeley 


Several Queries Proposed to the Public 

1735-37 > 





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Copyrighted 1910, by 
THE JOHNS HOPKINS PRESS 


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INTRODUCTION 


In the development of economic thought as in the history of 
philosophy, Berkeley may be described as “ the successor of Locke 
and the predecessor of Hume.” 1 The continuity is less apparent 
with respect to specific doctrines than in the matter of that com- 
mon sense rationalism which distinguishes the best English 
economic thought of the eighteenth century. Berkeley sought to 
formulate no system — in his economic very much less even than 
in his philosophical writings: ‘‘What I have done,” he wrote to 
a friend, “ was rather with a view of giving hints to thinking 
men who have leisure and curiosity to go to the bottom of things 
and pursue them in their own minds.” 2 It was this quality in the 
most important of Berkeley’s economic writings which led Sir 
James Mackintosh, in an oft-quoted passage, to declare: ‘‘Per- 
haps the Querist contains more hints, then original, still un- 
applied in legislation and political economy, than are to be 
found in any equal space.” 3 

Professor Fraser’s scholarly studies 4 have made accessible the 
details of Berkeley’s remarkable career. Born in 1685 in Ireland 
of English extraction, he was educated at Trinity College, Dublin. 
He remained at Trinity in various academic offices until he was 
twenty-eight, before which time he had written his three im- 
portant philosophical works. He came to England in 1713, was 
warmly received in literary and political circles and spent the 
next seven years in travel on the continent and residence in 
London. In 1721 he returned to Ireland, receiving preferment in 
the church, and developing that curious religious-educational 
enthusiasm which culminated in the project of a college, to be 
located in the Bermudas, for the training of missionaries to 
convert “ the savage Americans.” In vain pursuit of this fantasy 
he spent three years, 1728-1831 in America, living in and near 


1 Balfour, “ Biographical Introduction ” to “ The Works of 
George Berkeley,” edited by George Sampson (London, 1897-8). 

2 See “Preface” (ix) to the 1901 (Oxford) edition of Professor 
Fraser’s “ The Works of George Berkeley.” 

3 Ibid., vol. iv, p. 420. 

4 “Life and Letters of George Berkeley” (Oxford, 1871), being 
vol. 4 of “ Works.” 


4 


Introduction 


Newport, Rhode Island, and finding some solace in domestic 
calm and philosophical study for the bitterness of disappointment 
as to his major aspiration. Two unhappy years in London fol- 
lowed, but in 1734 he was given the bishopric of Cloyne in the 
south of Ireland, and there for the next eighteen years he flour- 
ished as theologian, metaphysician, social philosopher and idealist. 
In 1752 he left Ireland to spend his closing days, in accordance 
with a long cherished dream, in Oxford; but only a few months 
remained, for the end came with unexpected suddenness early in 
1753. 

The “ Querist ” was probably written very soon after Berkeley 
came to Ireland as Bishop of Cloyne, while his impressions of 
social and economic conditions were still vivid and clear cut. 
The peculiar stylistic device employed — terse, trenchant interro- 
gations — was not entirely new in economic writing. Petty had 
used it, notably in “ Quantulumcunque ” in 1682, and Bellers 
in “ Essays about the Poor ” in 1690. Berkeley himself had 
appended some sixty-seven “ Queries ” to the “ Analyst,” published 
in 1734, “ to the end that you may more clearly comprehend the 
force and design of the foregoing remarks, and pursue them still 
farther in your own meditations.” 5 6 It was doubtless the success 
attending this polemic that led Berkeley again to make use of the 
interrogative form the following year when, newcomer and keen 
observer, he was fairly tingling with impressions as to the 
causes of Ireland’s distress and the possibilities of improvement. 8 

The “Querist” originally appeared in 1735 as an anonymous 
contribution. A continuation, designated as “ Part II,” was issued 
in 1736, and a further installment, “ Part III,” in 1737. Berkeley 
records that his old friend. Dr. Samuel Madden of Dublin — 
himself a considerable influence in the economic improvement 
of Ireland — “edited” the work; 7 but the extent of the service 
is not determinable. The brochures although attracting very 
considerable attention, seemed to have been issued in small edi- 
tions and soon became scarce. In 1746 Dean Gervais “ could not 
find one in the shops, for my Lord Lieutenant [Lord Chesterfield], 


5 “Works” (ed. Fraser; 1871), vol. iii, p. 290. 

6 The literary form of the “ Querist ” was frequently followed or 
imitated in Irish and English economic writing of the eighteenth 
century; see, for example, “Answers to the Queries in defense of 
the Malt Distillery” (London, 1760), and “A Volunteer’s Queries, 
in Spring, 1780; humbly offered to the Consideration of all De- 
scriptions of Men in Ireland” (Dublin), 1780). 

7 “Works” (ed. Fraser; 1871), vol. iv, p. 247. 


Introduction 


5 


at his desire,” and the want could only be supplied by Berkeley’s 
direct intervention. * 8 

It is possible that this circumstance encouraged Berkeley to 
print a second edition of the “ Querist ” in 1750, distinguished 
rather inadequately as with “ some few queries added, and many 
omitted,” and with his name on the title page. A recrudescence 
of interest followed, Foulis in 1751 adding it to the economic 
reprints — Law, Child, Gee — which had been issued by his Glasgow 
press, and Berkeley in 1752 including it in the “ Miscellany ” of 
his own writings. Various reprints of these 1750-52 editions have 
since appeared. 

The first edition of the “ Querist — the significance of which is 
thus very much more than of bibliophilic interest — has always 
been one of the rarest economic tracts. Massie’s “ Catalogue ” only 
refers to “ Part I,” and in 1871, in editing Berkeley’s “ Works,” 
Professor Fraser was unable to come upon a copy until the virtual 
completion of his labor, when the discovery of a copy in the 
library of the Royal Irish Academy permitted a variorum refer- 
ence thereto in the Appendix, made more ample in the second 
and revised edition published in 1901.® An exact reprint of the 
“ Querist ” as originally issued was included in Mr. George 
Sampson’s excellent three-volume edition of Berkeley’s writings 
published in 1897-8. 

In the present reprint the title-pages of the original edition 
have been reproduced in facsimile and the original pagination 
indicated. 

Baltimore, July, 1910. 


8 Ibid., vol. iv, p. 307. 

8 Other copies are of course extant, at least two such being in 
the United States. One of these is in the “ Wagner Collection ” in 
the library of Yale University, and this copy has been, with very 
great courtesy, made available for the present reprint. Another 
copy, very recently acquired, is in the private library of Professor 
Seligman of Columbia University. 



V 

the 

QUERIST 

CONTAINING 

Several QUERIES, 

Propofed to the 

CONSIDERATION 

OF THE 


PUBLIC 



DUBLIN: 

Printed by R. Rrillt, on Cork-Hill, 

For G. Risk, G. Ewinc, and W. Smith, Bookfellers 
in Damn-Street, MjDCCjXxv, 





THE 


0 U E R I S T, &c. 

Query 1 . 

W HETHER there ever was, is, or will be an industrious 
Nation poor, or an idle, rich? 

2. Qu. Whether a People can be called poor, where the 
common Sort are well fed, cloathed, and lodged? 

3. Qu. Whether the Drift and Aim of every wise State 
should not be, to encourage Industry in its Members? and 
whether those, who employ neither Heads nor Hands for the 
common Benefit, deserve not to be expelled like Drones out of 
a well governed State? 

4. Qu. Whether the four Elements, and Man’s Labour 
therein, be not the true Source of Wealth? || 4 

5. Qu. Whether Money be not only so far useful, as it 
stirreth up Industry, enabling Men mutually to participate 
the Fruits of each others Labour? 

6. Qu. Whether any other Means, equally conducing to 
excite and circulate the Industry of Mankind, may not be as 
useful as Money ? 

7. Qu. Whether the real End and Aim of Men be not 
Power? And whether he who could have every Thing else at 
his Wish or Will, would value Money? 

8. Qu. Whether the public Aim in every well govern’d 
State be not, that each Member, according to his just Pre- 
tensions and Industry, should have power ? 


10 


George Berkeley 


9. Qu. Whether Power be not referred to Action; and 
whether Action doth not follow Appetite or Will? 

10. Qu. Whether Fashion doth not create Appetites, and 
whether the prevailing Will of a Nation is not the Fashion ? 

11. Qu. Whether the Current of Industry and Commerce 
5 be not determin'd by this prevailing Will. || 

12. Qu. Whether it be not owing to Custom that most 
Fashions are agreeable? 

13. Qu. Whether it may not concern the Wisdom of the 
Legislature to interpose in the making of Fashions; and not 
leave an Affair of so great influence, to the management of 
Women and Fops and Taylors and Vintners? 

14. Qu. Whether reasonable Fashions are a greater re- 
straint on Freedom than those which are unreasonable? 

15. Qu. Whether a general good Taste in a People would 
not greatly conduce to their thriving? And whether an un- 
educated Gentry be not the greatest of national Evils ? 

16. Qu. Whether Customs and Fashions do not supply 
the Place of Reason, in the Vulgar of all Ranks? Whether, 
therefore, it doth not very much import that they should be 
wisely framed ? 

17. Qu. Whether the imitating those Neighbours in our 
Fashions, to whom we bear no likeness in our Circumstances, 
be not one cause of Distress to this Nation? 

18. Qu. Whether frugal Fashions in the upper Rank, and 
6 comfortable living in the || lower, be not the Means to mul- 
tiply Inhabitants ? 

19. Qu. Whether the bulk of our Irish Natives are not 
kept from thriving, by that cynical Content in Dirt and Beg- 
gary, which they possess to a Degree beyond any other People 
in Christendom? 


The Querist 


11 


20. Qu. Whether the creating of Wants be not the like- 
liest way to produce Industry in a People ? And whether if 
our Peasants were accustomed to eat Beef and wear Shoes they 
would not be more Industrious? 

21. Qu. Whether other Things being given, as Climate, 
Soil, &c. the Wealth be not proportioned to the Industry, and 
this to the Circulation of Credit, be the Credit circulated or 
transferred by what Marks or Tokens so ever? 

22. Qu. Whether therefore less Money swiftly circulating 
be not, in effect, equivalent to more Money slowly circulating ? 
Or whether if the Circulation be reciprocally as the Quantity 
of Coin, the Nation can be a Loser? 

23. Qu. Whether Money is to be considered as having an 
intrinsic Value, or as being a Commodity, a Standard, a Meas- 
ure, or a Pledge, as is variously suggested by Writers? || And ? 
whether the true Idea of Money, as such, be not altogether 
that of a Ticket or Counter ? 

24. Qu. Whether the Value or Price of Things, be not a 
compounded Proportion, directly as the Demand, and recipro- 
cally as the Plenty? 

25. Qu. Whether the Terms Crown , Livre, Pound Ster- 
ling, &c. are not to be considered as Exponents or Denomina- 
tions of such Proportion? and whether Gold, Silver, and 
Paper, are not Tickets or Counters for Reckoning, Recording, 
and Transferring thereof ? 

26. Qu. Whether the Denominations being retained, al- 
though the Bullion were gone, Things might not nevertheless 
be rated, bought and sold. Industry promoted, and a Circula- 
tion of Commerce maintained ? 

27. Qu. Whether an equal raising of all Sorts of Gold, 
Silver, and Copper Coin can have any effect in bringing Money 


12 


George Berkeley 


into the Kingdom? And whether altering the Proportions 
between the several Sorts can have any other effect, but multi- 
plying one Kind and lessening another, without any increase 

8 of the Sum total? || 

28. Qu. Whether arbitrary changing the Denomination 
of Coin, be not a public Cheat ? 

29. Qu. Whether nevertheless the Damage would be very 
considerable, if by Degrees our Money were brought back to 
the English Value, there to rest for ever? 

30. Qu. Whether the English Crown did not formerly 
pass with us for six Shillings? And what Inconvenience 
ensued to the Public, upon its Reduction to the present Value, 
and whether what hath been may not be ? 

31. Qu. What makes a wealthy People? And whether 
Mines of Gold and Silver are capable of doing this ? Whether 
Negroes amidst the Gold Sands of Afric are not poor and 
destitute ? 

32. Qu. Whether there be any Vertue in Gold or Silver, 
other than as they set People at Work, or create Industry? 

33. Qu. Whether it be not the Opinion or Will of the 
People, exciting them to Industry, that truly enricheth a 
Nation? And whether this doth not principally depend on 
the Means for counting, transferring and preserving Power, 

9 that is, property of all Kinds? || 

34. Qu. Whether if there was no Silver in the Kingdom, 
our Trade might not nevertheless supply Bills of Exchange, 
sufficient to answer the Demands of Absentees in England or 
elsewhere ? 

35. Qu. Whether current Bank Notes may not be deemed 
Money ? And whether they are not actually the greater part 
of the Money of this Kingdom? 


The Querist 


13 


36. Qu. Provided the Wheels move, whether it is not the 
same Thing, as to the effect of the Machine, be this done by 
the Force of Wind or Water or Animals? 

37. Qu. Whether Power to command the Industry of 
others be not real Wealth? And whether Money be not in 
Truth, Tickets or Tokens for conveying and recording such 
Power, and whether it be of great Consequence what Materials 
the Tickets are made of ? 

38. Qu. Whether Trade, either foreign or domestick, be 
in Truth any more than this Commerce of Industry? 

39. Qu. Whether to promote, transfer, and secure this 
Commerce, and this Property in human Labour, or, in other 
Words, this Power, be not the sole Means of enriching a || io 
People, and how far this may be done independently of Gold 
and Silver? 

40. Qu. Whether it were not wrong to suppose Land it 
self to be Wealth? And whether the Industry of the People 
is not first to be consider’d, as that which constitutes Wealth, 
which makes even Land and Silver to be Wealth, neither of 
which would have any Value, but as Means and Motives to 
Industry ? 

41. Qu. Whether in the Wastes of America a Man might 
not possess twenty Miles square of Land, and yet want his 
Dinner or a Coat to his Back ? 

42. Qu. Whether a fertile Land, and the Industry of its 
Inhabitants, would not prove inexhaustable Funds of real 
Wealth, be the Counters for conveying and recording thereof 
what you will, Paper, Gold, or Silver ? 

43. Qu. Whether a single Hint be sufficient to overcome 
a Prejudice? And whether even obvious Truths will not 
sometimes bear repeating? 


14 


George Berkeley 


44. Qu. Whether if human Labour be the true source of 
Wealth, it doth not follow that Idleness should of all things 

11 be discourag’d in a wise State? || 

45. Qu. Whether even Gold or Silver, if they should les- 
sen the Industry of its Inhabitants, would not be ruinous to 
a Country ? And whether Spain be not an Instance of this ? 

46. Qu. Whether the Opinion of Men, and their Industry 
consequent thereupon, be not the true Wealth of Holland, 
and not the Silver supposed to be deposited in the Bank at 
Amsterdam ? 

47. Qu. Whether there is in Truth any such Treasure 
lying dead? And whether it he of great consequence to the 
Public, that it should be real rather than notional ? 

48. Qu. Whether in order to understand the true Nature 
of Wealth and Commerce, it would not he right to consider 
a Ship’s Crew cast upon a desert Island, and by Degrees form- 
ing themselves to Business and civil Life; while Industry 
begot Credit, and Credit moved to Industry ? 

49. Qu. Whether such Men would not all set themselves 
to Work? Whether they would not subsist by the mutual 
Participation of each others Industry? Whether when one 
Man had in his Way procured more than he could consume, 
he would not exchange his Superfluities to supply his Wants? 

12 Whether this must not produce Credit? Whether || to facili- 
tate these Conveyances, to record and circulate this Credit, 
they would not soon agree on certain Tallies, Tokens, Tickets 
or Counters? 

50. Qu. Whether Reflection in the better Sort might not 
soon remedy our Evils ? And whether our real Defect be not 
a wrong Way of Thinking? 

51. Qu. Whether it would not be an unhappy Turn in 
our Gentlemen, if they should take more Thought to create 


The Querist 


15 


an Interest to themselves in this or that County or Borough, 
than to promote the real Interest of their Country ? . 

52. Qu. Whether it be not a Bull to call that making an 
Interest, whereby a Man spendeth much and gaineth nothing ? 

53. Qu. Whether if a Man builds a House he doth not 
in the first Place provide a Plan which governs his Work? and 
shall the Public act without an End, a View, a Plan? 

54. Qu. Whether by how much the less particular Folk 
think for themselves, the Public be not so much the more 
obliged to think for them? 

55. Qu. Whether Cunning be not one thing and good 
Sense another? And whether || a cunning Tradesman doth 13 
not stand in his own Light ? 

56. Qu. Whether small Gains be not the way to great 
Profit? And if our Tradesmen are Beggars, whether they 
may not thank themselves for it? 

57. Qu. Whether some way might not be found for mak- 
ing Criminals useful in Public Works, instead of sending 
them either to America, or to the other World? 

58. Qu. Whether we may not, as well as other Nations, 
contrive Employment for them? And whether Servitude, 
Chains and hard Labour, for a term of Years, would not be 
a more discouraging, as well as a more adequate Punishment 
for Felons, than even Death itself ? 

59. Qu. Whether there are not such Things in Holland 
as bettering Houses for bringing young Gentlemen to Order ? 
And whether such an Institution might be useless among us ? 

60. Qu. Whether it be true, that the Poor in Holland 

have no Resource but their own Labour, and yet there are no 
Beggars in their Streets? || 14 


16 


George Berkeley. 


61. Qu. Whether he whose Luxury consumeth foreign 
Products, and whose Industry produceth nothing domestic to 
Exchange for them, is not so far forth injurious to his 
Country ? 

62. Qu. Whether, consequently, the fine Gentlemen, 
whose Employment is only to dress, drink, and play, be not 
a public Nuisance? 

63. Qu. Whether Necessity is not to be hearkened to 
before Convenience, and Convenience before Luxury? 

64. Qu. Whether to provide plentifully for the Poor, be 
not feeding the Boot, the Substance whereof will shoot up- 
wards into the Branches, and cause the Top to flourish? 

65. Qu. Whether there be any Instance of a State wherein 
the People, living neatly and plentifully, did not aspire to 
Wealth? 

66. Qu. Whether Nastiness and Beggary do not, on the 
contrary, extinguish all such Ambition, making Men listless, 
helpless, and slothful? 

67. Qu. Whether a Country inhabited by People well 
fed, cloathed, and lodged, would not become every Day more 

15 populous? And || whether a numerous Stock of People in 
such Circumstances would not constitute a flourishing Nation; 
and how far the Product of our own Country may suffice for 
the compassing of this End ? 

68. Qu. Whether a People, who had provided themselves 
with the Necessaries of Life in good Plenty, would not soon 
extend their Industry to new Arts and new Branches of 
Commerce ? 

69. Qu. Whether those same Manufactures which Eng- 
land imports from other Countries may not be admitted from 
Ireland? And if so whether Lace, Carpets, and Tapestry, 
three considerable Articles of English Importation, might not 


The Querist 


17 


find Encouragment in Ireland? And whether an Academy 
for Design might not greatly conduce to the perfecting those 
Manufactures among us? 

70. Qu. Whether France and Flanders could have drawn 
so much Money from England, for figured Silks, Lace, and 
Tapestry, if they had not had Academies for Designing? 

71. Qu. Whether when a Room was once prepared, and 
Models in Plaister of Paris, the Annual Expence of such an 
Academy need stand the Public in above two hundred Pounds 
a Year? || 

72. Qu. Whether our Linen Manufacture would not find 
the Benefit of this Institution? And whether there be any 
Thing that makes us fall short of the Dutch, in Damasks, 
Diapers, and printed Linen but our Ignorance in Design ? 

73. Qu. Whether those Specimens of our own Manufac- 
ture, hung up in a certain public Place, do not sufficiently 
declare such our Ignorance ? And whether for the Honour of 
the Nation they ought not to be removed? 

74. Qu. Whether those, who may slight this Affair as 
notional, have sufficiently considered the extensive use of the 
Art of Design, and its Influence in most Trades and Manu- 
factures wherein the Forms of Things are often more regarded 
than the Materials? 

75. Qu. Whether there be any Art sooner learned than 
that of making Carpets? And whether our Women with little 
Time and Pains may not make more beautiful Carpets than 
those imported from Turky? And whether this Branch of 
the Woollen Manufacture be not open to us? See Qu. 69. 

76. Qu. Whether human Industry can produce, from 
such cheap Materials, a Manufacture of so great Value, by 
any other Art than by those of Sculpture and Painting? || 

2 


16 


17 


18 


George Berkeley 


77. Qu. Whether Pictures and Statues are not in Fact 
so much Treasure ? And whether Rome and Florence would 
not be poor Towns without them? 

78. Qu, Whether they do not bring ready Money as well 
as Jewels ? Whether in Italy Debts are not paid and Children 
portioned with them, as with Gold and Silver ? 

79. Qu. Whether it would not be more prudent, to strike 
out and exert ourselves in permitted Branches of Trade, than 
to fold our Hands and repine, that we are not allowed the 
Woollen? 

80. Qu. Whether it be true, that two Millions are yearly 
expended by England in foreign Lace and Linnen? 

81. Qu. Whether immense Sums are not drawn yearly 
into the northern Countries, for supplying the British Navy 
with Hempen Manufactures? 

82. Qu. Whether there be any Thing more profitable than 
Hemp? And whether there should not be great Premiums 
for encouraging our Hempen Trade; what Advantages may 
not Great Britain make of a Country where Land and Labour 

18 are so cheap ? || 

83. Qu. Whether Ireland alone might not raise Hemp 
sufficient for the British Navy? And whether it would not 
be vain to expect this from the British Colonies in America, 
where Hands are so scarce and Labour so excessively dear ? 

84. Qu. Whether if our own People want Will or Capa- 
city for such an Attempt, it might not be worth while for some 
undertaking Spirits in England to make Settlements, and 
raise Hemp in the Counties of Clare and Limeric, than which 
perhaps there is not fitter Land in the World for that Pur- 
pose? And whether both Nations would not find their Advan- 
tage therein? 


The Querist 


19 


85. Qu. Whether if all the idle Hands in this Kingdom 
were employed on Hemp and Linen, we might not find suffi- 
cient vent for these Manufactures? 

86. Qu. How far it may be in our own Power to better 
our Affairs, without interfering with our Neighbours? 

87. Qu. Whether the Prohibition of our Woollen Trade 
ought not naturally to put us on other Methods, which give 
no Jealousy? 

88. Qu. Whether Paper be not a valuable Article of Com- 
merce? And whether it he not || true that one single Book- 19 
seller in London, yearly expends above four thousand Pounds, 
in that foreign Commodity? 

89. Qu. How it comes to pass that the Venetians and 
Genoese, who wear so much less Linen, and so much worse 
than we do, should yet make very good Paper, and in great 
quantity, while we make very little and very bad ? 

90. Q. How long it will be before my Countrymen find 
out, that it is worth while to spend a penny in order to get a 
groat? 

91. Qu. If all the Land were tilled that is fit for Tillage, 
and all that sowed with Hemp, and Flax, that is fit for rais- 
ing them, whether we should have much Sheep-Walk beyond 
what was sufficient to supply the Necessities of the Kingdom ? 

92. Qu. Whether other Countries have not flourished 
without the Woollen Trade? 

93. Qu. Whether it be not a sure Sign or Effect of a 

Countries thriving, to see it well cultivated, and full of In- 
habitants? And, if so, whether a great Quantity of Sheep- 
Walk, be not ruinous to a Country, rendering it Waste and 
thinly Inhabited? || 20 

94. Qu. Whether the Employing so much of our Land 
under Sheep, he not in fact an Irish Bull ? 


20 


George Berkeley 


95. Qu. Whether our hankering after the Woollen Trade, 
be not the true and only Reason, which hath created a J ealousy 
in England, towards Ireland? And whether any Thing can 
hurt us more than such a J ealousy ? 

96. Qu. Whether it be not the true Interest of both Na- 
tions, to become one People? And whether either be suffi- 
ciently apprized of this? 

97. Qu. Whether the upper Part of this People are not 
truly English, by Blood, Language, Religion, Manners, Incli- 
nation, and Interest? 

98. Qu. Whether we are not as much Englishmen, as the 
Children of old Romans born in Britain, were still Romans? 

99. Q. Whether it be not our true Interest, not to inter- 
fere with them; and, in every other Case, whether it be not 
their true Interest to befriend us? 

100. Qu. Whether a Mint in Ireland, might not be of 
great Convenience to the Kingdom, and whether it could be 
attended with any possible Inconvenience to great Britain? 

21 And || whether there were not Mints in Naples and in Sicily, 
when those Kingdoms were Provinces to Spain or the House 
of Austria ? 

101. Qu. Whether any Thing can be more ridiculous, 
than for the North of Ireland to be Jealous of a Linen Manu- 
facture in the South ? 

102. Qu. Whether the County of Tiperary be not much 
better Land than the County of Armagh ; and yet whether the 
latter is not much better improved and inhabited than the 
former ? 

103. Qu. Whether every Landlord in the Kingdom doth 
not know the Cause of this ? And yet how few are the better 
for such their Knowledge? 


The Querist 


21 


104. Qu. Whether large Farms under few Hands, or 
small ones under many, are likely to be made most of ? And 
whether Flax and Tillage do not naturally multiply Hands, 
and divide Land into small Holdings and well improved? 

105. Qu. Whether, as our Exports are lessened, we ought 
not to lessen our Imports? And whether these will not be 
lessened as our Demands, and these as our Wants, and these 
as our Customs or Fashions? Of how || great Consequence 22 
therefore are Fashions to the Public? See Qu. 10, 11, 16. 

106. Qu. Whether it would not be more reasonable to 
mend our State than to complain of it; and how far this may 
be in our own Power? 

107. Qu. What the Nation gains by those who live in 
Ireland upon the Produce of foreign Countries? 

108. Qu. How far the Vanity of our Ladies in dressing, 
and of our Gentlemen in drinking, contributes to the general 
Misery of the People? 

109. Qu. Whether Nations as wise and opulent as ours, 
have not made sumptuary Laws; and what hinders us from 
doing the same ? 

110. Qu. Whether those, who drink foreign Liquors and 
deck Themselves and their Families with foreign Ornaments, 
are not so far forth to be reckon’d Absentees ? 

111. Qu. Whether as our Trade is limited, we ought not 

to limit our Expences; and whether this be not the natural 
and obvious Remedy? || 23 

112. Qu. Whether the Dirt, and Famine, and Naked- 
ness of the Bulk of our People, might not be remedied even 
although we had no foreign Trade ? And whether this should 
not be our first Care, and whether, if this were once provided 
for, the Conveniencies of the Rich would not soon follow ? 


22 


George Berkeley 


113. Qu. Whether comfortable living doth not produce 
Wants, and Wants Industry, and Industry Wealth? See Qu. 
20, 65. 

114. Qu. Whether there is not a great difference between 
Holland and Ireland ? And whether foreign Commerce with- 
out which the one could not subsist, be so necessary for the 
other ? 

115. Qu. Might we not put a Hand to the Plough or the 
Spade, though we had no foreign Commerce ? 

116. Qu. Whether the Exigencies of Nature are not to 
be answered by Industry on our own Soil ? And how far the 
Conveniencies and Comforts of Life may be procured, by a 
domestic Commerce between the several Parts of this King- 
dom? 

117. Qu. Whether the Women may not sew, spin, weave, 
embroider, sufficiently for the embelishment of their Persons, 

24 and even || enough to raise Envy in each other, without being 
beholden to foreign Countries ? 

118. Qu. Suppose the Bulk of our Inhabitants had Shoes 
to their Feet, Cloaths to their Backs, and Beef in their Bel- 
lies ? Might not such a State be eligible for the Public, even 
though the Squires were condemned to drink Ale and Cyder? 

119. Qu. Whether if Drunkenness be a necessary Evil, 
Men may not as well get Drunk with the growth of their own 
Country ? 

120. Qu. Whether a Nation within itself might not have 
real Wealth, sufficient to give its Inhabitants Power and Dis- 
tinction, without the help of Gold and Silver? 

121. Qu. Whether, if the Arts of Sculpture and Paint- 
ing were encouraged among us, we might not furnish our 
Houses in a much nobler Manner with our own Manufacture ? 
See Qu. 76. 


The Querist 


23 


122. Qu. Whether we have not, or may not have all the 
necessary Materials for Building at Home? 

123. Qu. Whether Tiles and Plaister may not supply the 

Place of Norway Fir, for flooring and Wainscot? || 25 

124. Qu. Whether Plaister be not warmer, as well as 
more secure, than Deal ? And whether a modern fashionable 
House lined with Fir daubed over with Oyl and Paint, be not 
like a Fire-ship ready to be lighted up by all Accidents? 

125. Qu. Whether larger Houses, better built and Fur- 
nished, a greater Train of Servants, the difference with regard 
to Equipage and Table, between finer and coarser, more and 
less Elegant and Impolite, may not be sufficient to feed a 
reasonable Share of Vanity, or support all proper Distinc- 
tions? And whether all these may not be procured, by do- 
mestic Industry out of the four Elements, without ransacking 
the four Quarters of the Globe? 

126. Qu. Whether any Thing is a nobler Ornament, in 
the Eye of the World, than an Italian Palace, that is, Stone 
and Mortar skilfully put together, and adorned with Sculp- 
ture and Painting, and whether this may not be compassed 
without foreign Trade? 

127. Qu. Whether an Expence in Gardens and Planta- 

tions would not be an elegant Distinction for the Rich, a 
domestic Magnificence, employing many Hands within, and 
drawing nothing from abroad? || 26 

128. Qu. Whether the Apology which is made for for- 
eign Luxury in England, to wit, that they could not carry on 
their Trade without Imports as well as Exports, will hold in 
Ireland ? 

129. Qu. Whether one may not be allowed to conceive 
and suppose a Society, or Nation of Human Creatures, clad 
in Woollen Cloaths and Stuffs, eating good Bread, Beef, and 
Mutton, Poultry and Fish in great Plenty, drinking Ale, 


24 


George Berkeley 


Mead, and Cyder, inhabiting decent Houses, built of Brick and 
Marble, taking their Pleasure in fair Parks and Gardens, 
depending on no foreign Imports either for Food or Raiment ; 
and whether such People ought much to be pitied ? 

130. Qu. Whether Ireland be not as well qualified for 
such a State, as any Nation under the Sun? 

131. Qu. Whether in such a State the Inhabitants may 
not contrive to pass the twenty four Hours, with tolerable 
Ease and Chearfulness ? And whether any People upon Earth 
can do more ? 

132. Qu. Whether they might not eat, drink, play, dress, 
visit, sleep in good Beds, sit by good Fires, build, plant, raise 

27 a Name, make Estates and spend them? || 

133. Qu. Whether upon the whole, a domestic Trade may 
not suffice in such a Country as Ireland, to nourish and cloath 
its Inhabitants, and provide them with the reasonable Con- 
veniencies and even Comforts of Life? 

134. Qu. Whether a general Habit of living well would 
not produce Numbers and Industry ; and whether, considering 
the Tendency of human Kind, the Consequence thereof would 
not be foreign Trade and Riches, how unnecessary soever? 
See Qu. 68. 

135. Qu. Whether nevertheless, it be a Crime to enquire 
how far we may do without foreign Trade, and what would 
follow on such a Supposition ? 

136. Qu. Whether the Number and Welfare of the Sub- 
jects be not the true Strength of the Crown ? 

137. Qu. Whether in all public Institutions there should 
not be an End proposed, which is to be the Rule and Limit 
of the Means? Whether this End should not be the Well- 
being of the Whole? And whether in order to this, the first 
Step should not be to cloath and feed our People ? 


The Querist 


25 


138. Qu. Whether there be upon Earth any Christian 
or civilized People so beggarly, || wretched, and destitute, as 28 
the common Irish? 

139. Qu. Whether, nevertheless, there is any other People 
whose Wants may be more easily supplyed from Home? 

140. Qu. Whether, if there was a Wall of Brass a thou- 
sand Cubits high, round this Kingdom, our Natives might not 
nevertheless live cleanly and comfortably, till the Land, and 
reap the Fruits of it? 

141. Qu. What should hinder us from exerting ourselves, 
using our Hands and Brains, doing something or other, Man, 
Woman, and Child, like the other Inhabitants of God’s Earth ? 

142. Qu. Be the restraining our Trade well or ill advised 
in our Neighbours, with respect to their own Interest, yet 
whether it be not plainly ours to accomodate ourselves to it? 

143. Qu. Whether it be not vain to think of persuading 
other People to see their Interest, while we continue blind to 
our own? 

144. Qu. Whether there be any other Nation possess’d 
of so much Land, and so || many able Hands to Work it, which 29 
yet is beholden for Bread to foreign Countries? 

145. Qu. Whether it be true, that we import Corn to the 
yearly value of two hundred thousand Pounds ? 

146. Qu. Whether we are not undone by Fashions made 
for other People? And whether it be not Madness in a poor 
Nation to imitate a rich one? 

147. Qu. Whether a Woman of Fashion ought not to 
be declar’d a public Enemy? 

148. Qu. Whether it be not certain that from the single 
Town of Cork were exported, last Year, no less than one 
hundred and seven thousand one hundred sixty one Barrels 


26 


George Berkeley 


of Beef, seven thousand three hundred and seventy nine Bar- 
rels of Pork, thirteen thousand four hundred and sixty one 
Casks and eighty five thousand seven hundred and twenty 
seven Firkins of Butter? And what Hands were employed 
in this Manufacture? 

149. Qu. Whether a Foreigner could imagine, that one 
half of the People were starving, in a Country which sent out 
such Plenty of Provisions? 

30 150. Qu. Whether an Irish Lady, set out || with French 
Silks, and Flanders Lace, may not be said to consume more 
Beef and Butter than fifty of our labouring Peasants? 

151. Qu. Whether nine Tenths of our foreign Trade be 
not singly to support the Article of Vanity? 

152. Qu. Whether it can be hoped private Persons will 
not indulge this Folly, unless restrained by the Public? 

153. Qu. How Vanity is maintained in other Countries, 
whether in Hungary, for Instance, a proud Nobility are not 
subsisted with small Imports from abroad? 

154. Qu. Whether there be a prouder People upon Earth 
than the noble Venetians, though they all wear plain black 
Cloaths ? 

155. Qu. Whether a People are to be pitied, that will not 
sacrifice their little particular Vanities to the public Good? 
And yet whether each Part would not except their own Foible 
from this public Sacrifice, the Squire his Bottle, the Lady her 
Lace? 

156. Qu. Whether Claret be not often drunk rather for 

31 Vanity than for Health or Pleasure? || 

157. Qu. Whether it be true, that Men of nice Palates 
have been imposed on, by Elder Wine for French Claret, and 
by Mead for Palm Sack? 


The Querist 


27 


158. Qu. Do not Englishmen abroad purchase Beer and 
Cyder at ten Times the price of Wine? 

159. Qu. How many Gentlemen are there in England of 
a thousand Pounds per Annum, who never drink Wine in 
their own Houses? Whether the same may be said of any in 
Ireland who have even one hundred Pounds per Annum ? 

160. Qu. What reason have our Neighbours in England 
for discouraging French Wines, which may not hold with 
Respect to us also ? 

161. Qu. How much of the necessary Sustenance of our 
People is yearly exported for Brandy? 

162. Qu. Whether, if People must poison themselves, 
they had not better do it with their own Growth? 

163. Qu. If we imported neither Claret from France nor 

Fir from Norway, what the Nation would save by it? || 32 

164. Qu. When the Root yieldeth insufficient Nourish- 
ment, whether Men do not Top the Tree to make the lower 
Branches thrive? 

165. Qu. Whether, if our Ladies drank Sage or Balm 
Tea out of Irish Ware, it would be an insupportable national 
Calamity ? 

166. Qu. Whether it be really true that such Wine is best 
as most encourages drinking, i. e. that must be given in the 
largest Dose to produce its effect? And whether this holds 
with regard to any Medicine? 

167. Qu. Whether that Trade should not be accounted 
most pernicious, wherein the Balance is most against us? 
And whether this be not the Trade with Frange ? 

168. Qu. Whether it be not even Madness, to encourage 
Trade with a Nation that takes nothing of our Manufacture ? 


28 


George Berkeley 


169. Qu. Whether Ireland can hope to thrive, if the 
major Part of her Patriots shall be found in the French In- 
terest? See Qu. 155. 

170. Qu. Why, if a Bribe by the Palate or the Purse be 
83 in effect the same Thing, they should not be alike infamous? || 

171. Qu. Whether the Vanity and Luxury of a few ought 
to stand in Competition with the Interest of a Nation? 

172. Qu. Whether national Wants ought not to be the 
Buie of Trade? And whether the most pressing Wants of 
the Majority ought not to be first considered? 

173. Qu. Whether it is possible the Country should be 
well improved, while our Beef is exported and our Labourers 
live upon Potatoes? See Qu. 148. 

174. Qu. If it be resolved that we cannot do without 
foreign Trade, whether, at least, it may not be worth while 
to consider what Branches thereof deserve to be entertained, 
and how far we may be able to carry it on under our present 
Limitations ? 

175. Qu. What foreign Imports may be necessary, for 
clothing and feeding the Families of Persons not worth above 
one hundred Pounds a Year ? And how many wealthier there 
are in the Kingdom, and what Proportion they bear to the 
other Inhabitants? 

176. Qu. Whether Trade be not then on a right Foot, 
when foreign Commodities are imported in Exchange only 

34 for domestic Superfluities? || 

177. Qu. Whether the Quantities of Beef, Butter, Wool, 
and Leather exported from this Island can be reckon’d the 
Superfluities of a Country, where there are so many Natives 
naked and famished? 


The Querist 


29 


178. Qu. Whether it would not be wise so to order our 
Trade, as to export Manufactures rather than Provisions, and 
of those such as employ most Hands ? 

179. Qu. Whether she would not be a very vile Matron, 
and justly thought either mad or foolish, that should give 
away the Necessaries of Life, from her naked and famished 
Children, in Exchange for Pearls to stick in her Hair, and 
sweet Meats to please her own Palate ? 

180. Qu. Whether a Nation might not be consider’d as 
a Family? 

181. Qu. Whether other Methods may not be found for 
supplying the Funds besides the Custom on Things imported ? 

182. Qu. Whether any Art or Manufacture be so diffi- 
cult as the making of good Laws ? 

183. Qu. Whether our Peers and Gentlemen are born 
Legislators? Or whether that Faculty be acquired by Study 
and Reflection? || 

184. Qu. Whether to comprehend the real Interest of a 
People, and the means to procure it, doth not imply some 
Fund of Knowledge historical, moral, and political, with a 
Faculty of Reason improved by Learning? 

185. Qu. Whether every Enemy to Learning be not a 
Goth? And whether every such Goth among us be not an 
Enemy to the Country? 

186. Qu. Whether therefore it would not be an Omen of 
ill presage, a dreadful Phenomenon in the Land, if our great 
Men should take it in their Heads to deride Learning and 
Education ? 

187. Qu. Whether on the contrary, it should not seem 
worth while to erect a Mart of Literature in this Kingdom, 


35 


30 


George Berkeley 


under wiser Regulations and better Discipline than in any 
other Part of Europe? And whether this would not be an 
infallible Means of drawing Men and Money into the King- 
dom? 

188. Qu. Whether the governed be not too numerous for 
the governing Part of our College? And whether it might 
not be expedient to convert thirty Natives Places into twenty 

36 Fellowships? || 

189. Qu. Whether if we had two Colleges, there might 
not spring an useful Emulation between them ? And whether 
it might not be contrived, so to divide the Fellows Scholars 
and Revenues between both, as that no Member should be a 
Loser thereby ? 

190. Qu. Whether ten thousand pounds well laid out 
might not build a decent College, fit to contain two hundred 
Persons; and whether the purchase-Money of the Chambers 
would not go a good way towards defraying the Expence ? 

191. Qu. Where this College should be situated? 

192. Qu. Whether it is possible a State should not thrive, 
whereof the lower Part were industrious and the upper wise ? 

193. Qu. Whether the collected Wisdom of Ages and 
Nations be not found in Books, improved and applied by 
Study? 

194. Qu. Whether it was not an Irish Professor who 
first open’d the public Schools at Oxford? Whether this 
Island hath not been antiently famous for Learning? and 
whether at his Day it hath any better Chance for being 

37 considerable? || 

195. Qu. Whether we may not with better Grace sit 
down and complain, when we have done all that lies in our 
Power to help ourselves ? 


The Querist 


31 


196. Qu, Whether the Gentleman of Estate hath a right 
to be idle ; and whether he ought not to be the great Promoter 
and Director of Industry, among his Tenants and Neigh- 
bours ? 

197. Qu. Whether the real Foundation for Wealth must 
not be laid in the Numbers, the Frugality, and the Industry 
of the People ? And whether all Attempts to enrich a Nation 
by other Means, as raising the Coin, Stock-jobbing, and such 
Arts, are not vain? 

198. Qu. Whether a Door ought not to be shut against 
all other Methods of growing rich, save only by Industry and 
Merit; and whether Wealth got otherwise would not be ruin- 
ous to the Public? 

199. Qu. Whether the abuse of Banks and Paper-Money 
is a just Objection against the use thereof? And whether 
such abuse might not easily be prevented ? 

200. Qu. Whether national Banks are not found useful 
in Venice, Holland, and Hambourgh? And whether it is not 
possible to || contrive one that may be useful also in Ireland? 38 

201. Qu. Whether any Nation ever was in greater want 
of such an Expedient than Ireland? 

202. Qu. Whether the Banks of Venice and Amsterdam, 
are not in the Hands of the Public ? 

203. Qu. Whether it may not be worth while to inform 
ourselves in the Nature of those Banks? And what Reason 
can be assigned, why Ireland should not reap the Benefit of 
such public Banks, as well as other Countries ? 

204. Qu. Whether a Bank of national Credit, supported 
by public Funds, and secured by Parliament, be a Chimera 
or impossible Thing; and if not, what would follow from the 
Supposal of such Bank? 


32 


George Berkeley 


205. Qu. Whether the Currency of a Credit so well se- 
cured would not be of great Advantage to our Trade and 
Manufactures ? 

206. Qu. Whether the Notes of such public Bank would 

39 not have a more general Circulation than those of private 
Banks, as being less subject to Frauds and Hazards? || 

207. Qu. Whether it be not agreed that Paper hath, in 
many respects, the Advantage above Coin, as being of more 
Dispatch in Payments, more easily transferred, preserved, and 
recovered when lost ? 

208. Qu. Whether, beside these Advantages, there be 
not an evident Necessity for circulating Credit by Paper, from 
the Defect of Coin in this Kingdom? 

209. Qu. Whether the Public may not as well save the 
Interest which it now pays? 

210. Qu. What would happen if two of our Banks should 
break at once? And whether it be wise to neglect providing 
against an Event which Experience hath shewn us not to be 
impossible ? 

211. Qu. Whether such an Accident would not particu- 
larly affect the Bankers? And therefore whether a national 
Bank would not be a Security even to private Bankers ? 

212. <2 Whether we may not easily avoid the Inconven- 
iences attending the Paper-Money of New England, which 
were incurred by their issuing too great a Quantity of Notes, 
by their having no Silver in Bank to exchange for Notes, by 
their not insisting upon Kepayment of the Loans at the 

40 Time || prefixed, and especially by their Want of Manufac- 
tures to answer their Imports from Europe? 

213. Qu. Whether a Combination of Bankers might not 
do Wonders, and whether Bankers know their own Strength? 


The Querist 


33 


214. Qu. Whether a Bank in private Hands might not 
even overturn a Government? And whether this was not the 
Case of the Bank of St. George in Genoa ? * 

215. Qu. Whether we may not easily prevent the ill 
Effects of such a Bank, as Mr. Law proposed for Scotland, 
which was faulty in not limiting the Quantum of Bills, and 
permitting all Persons to take out what Bills they pleased, 
upon the Mortgage of Lands, whence, by a Glut of Paper, the 
Prices of Things must rise: Whence also the Fortunes of 
Men must encrease in Denomination, though not in Value; 
whence Pride, Idleness, and Beggary? 

216. Qu. Whether such. Banks, as those of England and 
Scotland, might not be attended with great Inconveniences, 
as lodging too much Power in the Hands of private Men, || 41 
and giving handle for Monopolies, Stock- jobbing, and de- 
structive Schemes? 

217. Qu. Whether the national Bank, projected by an 
Anonymous Writer in the latter End of Queen Anne’s Reign, 
might not on the other Hand be attended with as great In- 
conveniences, by lodging too much Power in the Government? 

218. Qu. Whether the Bank projected by Murray, 
though it partake, in many useful Particulars, with that of 
Amsterdam, yet, as it placeth too great Power in the Hands 
of a private Society, might not be dangerous to the Public? 

219. Qu. Whether it be rightly remarked by some, that, 
as Banking brings no Treasure into the Kingdom like Trade, 
private Wealth must sink as the Bank riseth? And whether 
whatever causeth Industry to flourish and circulate, may not 
be said to increase our Treasure? 

220. Qu. Whether the ruinous Effects of Mississippi, 
South-Sea, and such Schemes, were not owing to an abuse of 

♦ See the Vindication and Advancement of our national Consti- 
tution and Credit. Printed in London 1710. 

3 


34 


George Berkeley 


Paper Money or Credit, in making it a Means for Idleness 

42 and Gaming, instead of a Motive and Help to Industry? || 

221. Qu. Whether those Effects could have happened, 
"had there been no Stock- jobbing? And whether Stock-job- 
bing could at first have been set on Foot, without an imaginary 
Foundation of some Improvement to the Stock by Trade? 
Whether, therefore, when there are no such Projects, or 
Cheats, or private Schemes proposed, the same Effects can be 
justly feared? 

222. Qu. Whether by a national Bank, be not properly 
understood a Bank, not only establish'd by public Authority 
as the Bank of England, but a Bank in the Hands of the 
Public, wherein there are no Shares: Whereof the Public 
alone is Proprietor, and reaps all the Benefit? 

223. Qu. Whether having considered the Conveniencies 
of Banking and Paper-Credit in some Countries, and the In- 
conveniencies thereof in others, we may not contrive to adopt 
the former, and avoid the latter ? 

224. Qu. Whether great Evils, to which other Schemes 
are liable, may not be prevented, by excluding the Managers 
of the Bank from a share in the Legislature ? 

225. Qu. Whether the rise of the Bank of Amsterdam 
was not purely casual, for the Security and Dispatch of Pay- 

43 ments? And whe||ther the good Effects thereof, in supply- 
ing the Place of Coin, and promoting a ready Circulation of 
Industry and Commerce, may not be a Lesson to us, to do 
that by Design, which others fell upon by chance ? 

226. Qu. Whether the Bank proposed to be established 
in Ireland, under the Notion of a national Bank, by the volun- 
tary Subscription of three hundred thousand Pounds, to pay 
off the national Debt, the Interest of which Sum to be paid 
the Subscribers, subject to certain Terms of Redemption, 
be not in reality a private Bank, as those of England and 


The Querist 


35 


Scotland, which are national only in Name, being in the 
Hands of particular Persons, and making Dividends on the 
Money paid in by Subscribers ? * 

227. Qu. Whether Plenty of small Cash be not abso- 
lutely necessary, for keeping up a Circulation among the 
People, that is, whether Copper be not more necessary than 
Gold? 

228. Qu. Whether it is not worth while to reflect, on the 
Expedients made use of by other Nations, Paper-Money, 
Bank-Notes, public Funds, and Credit in all its Shapes, to 
examine what hath been done and devised, || to add our own 44 
Animadversions, and upon the whole offer such Hints, as 
seem not unworthy the Attention of the Public? 

229. Qu. Whether that, which increaseth the Stock of a 
Nation, be not a Means of increasing its Trade? And whether 
that, which increaseth the current Credit of a Nation, may 
not be said to increase its Stock? 

230. Qu. Whether it may not be expedient to appoint 
certain Funds or Stock for a national Bank, under direction 
of certain Persons, one third whereof to be named by the 
Government, and one third by each House of Parliament? 

231. Qu. Whether the Directors should not be excluded 
from sitting in either House; and whether they should not 
be subject to the Audit and Visitation of a standing Com- 
mittee of both Houses? 

232. Qu. Whether such Committee of Inspectors should 
not be changed every two Years, one half going out, and an- 
other coming in, by Ballot? 

233. Qu. Whether the Notes ought not to be issued in 
Lots, to be lent at Interest on mortgaged Lands, the whole 

* See a Proposal for the Relief of Ireland, &c. Printed in Dub- 
lin A. D. 1734. 


36 


George Berkeley 


45 Number of Lots |[ to be divided among the four Provinces, 
rateably to the Number of Hearths in each? 

234. Qu. Whether it may not be expedient to appoint 
four counting Houses, one in each Province, for converting 
Notes into Specie? 

235. Qu. Whether a Limit should not be fixed, which no 
Person might exceed, in taking out Notes? 

236. Qu. Whether, the better to answer domestic Circula- 
tion, it may not be right to issue Notes as low as twenty 
Shillings ? 

237. Qu. Whether all the Bills should be issued at once, 
or rather by Degrees, that so Men may be gradually accus- 
tomed and reconciled to the Bank? 

238. Qu. Whether the keeping of the Cash, and the di- 
rection of the Bank, ought not to be in different Hands, and 
both under Public Controle ? 

239. Qu. Whether the same Rule should not alway be 
observed, of lending out Money or Notes, only to half the 
Value of the Mortgaged Land? And whether this Value 
should not alway be rated, at the same Number of Years 

46 Purchase as at first? || 

240. Qu. Whether Care should not be taken to prevent 
an undue Rise of the Value of Land? 

241. Qu. Whether the increase of Industry and People 
will not of Course raise the Value of Land? And whether 
this Rise may not be sufficient? 

242. Qu. Whether Land may not be apt to rise, on the 
issuing too great Plenty of Notes ? 

243. Qu. Whether this may not be prevented by the 
gradual and slow issuing of Notes, and by frequent Sales of 
Lands ? 


The Querist 


37 


244. Qu. Whether Interest doth not measure the true 
Value of Land; for Instance, where Money is at five per 
Cent, whether Land is not worth twenty Years Purchase ? 

245. Qu. Whether two small a Proportion of Money 
would not hurt the landed Man, and too great a Proportion 
the monied Man ? And whether the Quantum of Notes ought 
not to bear Proportion to the public Demand ? And whether 
Trial must not shew what this Demand will be? 

246. Qu. Whether the exceeding this Measure might not 

produce divers bad Effects, one whereof would be the Loss of 
our Silver? || 4 7 

247. Qu. Whether Interest paid into the Bank, ought 
not to go on augmenting its Stock ? 

248. Qu. Whether it would or would not be right, to 
appoint that the said Interest be paid in Notes only? * 

249. Qu. Whether the Notes of this national Bank should 
not be received in all Payments into the Exchequer ? 

250. Qu. Whether on Supposition that the Specie should 
fail, the Credit would not nevertheless still pass, being admit- 
ted in all Payments of the public Revenue? 

251. Qu. Whether the Public can become Bankrupt, so 
long as the Notes are issued on good Security? 

252. Qu. Whether Mismanagement, prodigal Living, 
Hazards by Trade, which often affect private Banks, are 
equally to be apprehended in a Public one? 

253. Qu. Whether as Credit became Current, and this 

raised the Value of Land, the Security must not of Course 
rise? See Qu. 233. || 48 

254. Qu. Whether as our current domestic Credit grew, 
Industry would not grow likewise, and if Industry, our Manu- 
factures, and if these, our foreign Credit ? 


* See Mr. John Laws on Money and Trade. 


38 


George Berkeley 


255. Qu. Whether by Degrees, as Business and People 
multiplied, more Bills may not be issued, without augmenting 
the Capital Stock, provided still, that they are issued on 
good Security; which further issuing of new Bills, not to be 
without Consent of Parliament? 

256. Qu. Whether such Bank would not be Secure? 
Whether the Profits accruing to the Public would not be very 
considerable? And whether Industry in private Persons 
would not be supplied, and a general Circulation encouraged ? 

257. Qu. Whether such Bank should, or should not, be 
allowed to issue Notes for Money deposited therein ? And, if 
not, whether the Bankers would have Cause to complain? 

258. Qu. Whether if the Public thrives, all particular 
Persons must not feel the Benefit thereof, even the Bankers 
themselves ? 

259. Qu. Whether beside the Bank-Company, there are 
not in England many private wealthy Bankers, and whether 

49 they were more before the erecting of that Company? || 

260. Qu. Whether as Industry increased our Manufac- 
tures would not flourish; and as these flourished, whether 
better Returns would not be made from Estates to their Land- 
lords, both within and without the Kingdom? 

261. Qu. Whether we have not Paper-Money circulating 
among us already ? Whether, therefore, we might not as well 
have that which is secured by the Public, and whereof the 
Public reaps the Benefit? 

262. Qu. Whether there are not two general Ways of 
circulating Money, to wit, Play and Traffic? And whether 
Stock-jobbing is not to be ranked under the former? 

263. Qu. Whether there are more than two Things, that 
might draw Silver out of the Bank, when its Credit was once 


The Querist 


39 


well established, to wit, foreign Demands and small Payments 
at Home? 

264. Qu. Whether if onr Trade with France were 
checked, the former of these Causes could be supposed to 
Operate at all ? And whether the latter could operate to any 
great Degree ? See Qu. 34. 

265. Qu. Whether the sure Way to supply People with 
Tools and Materials, and to || set them at Work, be not a free 50 
Circulation of Money, whether Silver or Paper? 

266. Qu. Whether in New England, all Trade and Busi- 
ness is not as much at a Stand, upon a Scarcity of Paper- 
Money, as with us from the Want of Specie? 

267. Qu. Whether Paper-Money or Notes may not be 
issued from the national Bank, on the security of Hemp, of 
Linen, or other Manufactures whereby the Poor might be 
supported in their Industry? 

268. Qu. Whether it be certain, that the Quantity of 
Silver in the Bank of Amsterdam be greater now than at first ; 
but whether it be not certain that there is a greater Circulation 
of Industry and Extent of Trade, more People, Ships, Houses, 
and Commodities of all Sorts, more Power by Sea and Land ? 

269. Qu. Whether Money, lying Dead in the Bank of 
Amsterdam, would not be as useless as in the Mine ? 

270. Qu. Whether our visible Security in Land could 
be doubted? And whether there be any Thing like this in 
the Bank of Amsterdam ? 

271. Qu. Whether it be just to apprehend Danger from 
trusting a national Bank, with Power to extend its Credit, to 
circulate Notes, which it shall be Felony to counterfeit, to 
re||ceive Goods on Loans, to purchase Lands, to sell also or 51 
alienate them, and to deal in Bills of Exchange, when these 
Powers are no other than have been trusted for many Years 


40 


George Berkeley 


with the Bank of England, although in Truth but a private 
Bank? See Qu. 222. 

272. Qu. Whether the Objection from Monopolies and 
an over-growth of Power, which are made against private 
Banks, can possibly hold against a national one? 

273. Qu. Whether Banks raised by private Subscription, 
would be as advantageous to the Public, as to the Subscribers ? 
And whether Risques and Frauds might not be more justly 
apprehended from them? 

274. Qu. Whether the evil Effects, which, of late Years, 
have attended Paper-Money and Credit in Europe, did not 
spring from Subscriptions, Shares, Dividends, Stock- jobbing? 

275. Qu. Whether great Evils attending Paper-Money 
in the British Plantations of America have not sprung from 
the over-rating their Lands, and issuing Paper without Dis- 
cretion, and from the Legislators breaking their own Rules in 
Favour of themselves, thus sacrificing the Public to their * 
private Benefit? And whether a little Sense and Honesty 
might not easily prevent all such Inconveniencies ? See Qu. 

52 212. || 

276. Qu. Whether an Argument from the Abuse of 
Things, against the use of them be Conclusive? 

277. Qu. Whether he who is bred to a Part, be fittest to 
judge of the Whole? 

278. Qu. Whether Interest be not apt to bias Judgment? 
And whether Traders only are to be consulted about Trade, 
or Bankers about Money? 

279. Qu. Whether the Subject of Freethinking in Re- 
ligion be not exhausted? And whether it be not high Time 
for our Freethinkers, to turn their Thoughts to the Improve- 
ment of their Country? 


The Querist 


41 


280. Qu. Whether any Man hath a Right to judge, that 
will not be at the Pains to distinguish? 

281. Qu. Whether there be not a wide Difference, between 
the Profits going to augment the national Stock, and being 
divided among private Shares? And whether, in the former 
Case, there can possibly be any Gaming or Stock- jobbing ? 

282. Qu. Whether it must not be ruinous for a Nation 
to sit down to game, be it with Silver or with Paper ? 

283. Qu. Whether, therefore, the circulating Paper, in 
the late ruinous Schemes of || France and England, was the 53 
true Evil, and not rather the circulating thereof without In- 
dustry; And whether the Bank of Amsterdam, where In- 
dustry had been for so many Years subsisted, and circulated 
by Transfers on Paper, doth not clearly decide this Point? 

284. Qu. Whether there are not to be seen in America 
fair Towns, wherein the People are well lodged, fed, and 
cloathed, without a Beggar in their Streets, although there be 
not one Grain of Gold or Silver current among them ? 

285. Qu. Whether these People do not exercise all Arts 
and Trades, build Ships, and navigate them to all Parts of the 
World, purchase Lands, till and reap the Fruits of them, buy 
and sell, educate and provide for their Children? Whether 
they do not even indulge themselves in foreign Vanities? 

286. Qu. Whether, whatever Inconveniencies those Peo- 
ple may have incurred, from not observing either Rules or 
Bounds in their Paper-Money, yet it be not certain that they 
are in a more flourishing Condition, have larger and better 
built Towns, more Plenty, more Industry, more Arts and 
Civility, and a more extensive Commerce, than when they had 
Gold and Silver current among them? 

287. Qu. Whether a View of the ruinous Effects of 
absurd Schemes, and Credit misma||naged, so as to produce 54 


42 


George Berkeley 


Gaming and Madness instead of Industry, can be any just 
Objection against a national Bank, calculated purely to pro- 
mote Industry? 

288. Qu. Whether a Scheme for the Welfare of this 
Nation should not take in the whole Inhabitants? And 
whether it be not a vain Attempt, to project the flourishing 
of our Protestant Gentry, exclusive of the Bulk of the Natives? 

289. Qu. Whether, therefore, it doth not greatly concern 
the State, that our Irish Natives should be converted, and the 
whole Nation united in the same Religion, the same allegiance, 
and the same Interest? And how this may most probably be 
effected ? 

290. Qu. Whether an Oath, testifying Allegiance to the 
King and disclaiming the Pope’s Authority in Temporals, 
may not be justly required of the Roman Catholicks? And 
whether, in common Prudence or Policy, any Priest should be 
tolerated who refuseth to take it? 

291. Qu. Whether there have not been Popish Recusants ? 
And, if so, whether it would be right to object against the 
foregoing Oath, that all would take it, and none think them- 
selves bound by it? 

55 292. Qu. Whether those of the Church of || Rome, in 

converting the Moors of Spain or the Protestants of France, 
have not set us an Example which might justify a similar 
Treatment of themselves, if the Laws of Christianity allowed 
thereof ? 

293. Qu. Whether compelling Men to a Profession of 
Faith is not the worst Thing in Popery, and, consequently, 
whether to copy after the Church of Rome therein, were not 
to become Papists ourselves in the worst Sense? 

294. Qu. Whether nevertheless we may not imitate the 
Church of Rome, in certain Places, where Jews are tolerated, 


The Querist 


43 


by obliging our Irish Papists, at stated Times, to hear Pro- 
testant Sermons? And whether this would not make Mis- 
sionaries in the Irish Tongue useful? 

295. Qu. Whether the mere Act of hearing, without mak- 
ing any Profession of Faith, or joining in any Part of Wor- 
ship, be a Religious Act? And, consequently, whether their 
being obliged to hear, may not consist with the Toleration of 
Roman Catholics? 

296. Qu. Whether, if penal Laws should be thought Op- 
pressive, we may not at least be allowed to give Premiums? 
And, whether it would be wrong, if the Public encouraged 
Popish Families to become Hearers, by paying their Hearth- 
Money for them ? || 

297. Qu. Whether in granting Toleration, we ought not 
to distinguish between Doctrines purely Religious and such 
as affect the State ? 

298. Qu. Whether the Case be not very different, in 
regard to a Man who only eats Fish on Fridays, says his 
Prayers in Latin, or believes Transubstantiation, and one 
who professeth in Temporals a Subjection to foreign Powers, 
who holdeth himself absolved from all Obedience to his natural 
Prince and the Laws of his Country? who is even persuaded, 
it may be Meritorious to destroy the Powers that are? 

299. Qu. Whether, therefore, a Distinction should not 
be made between mere Papists and Recusants? And whether 
the latter can expect the same Protection from the Govern- 
ment as the former? 

300. Qu. Whether our Papists in this Kingdom can 
complain, if they are allowed to be as much Papists, as the 
Subjects of France or of the Empire? 


56 


44 


George Berkeley 


301. Qu. Whether there is any such Thing as a Body of 
Inhabitants, in any Popish Country under the Sun, that pro- 
fess an absolute Submission to the Pope’s Orders in Matters 
of an indifferent Nature, or that in such Points do not think 

57 it their Duty, to obey the civil Government? || 

302. Qu. Whether since the Peace of Utrecht, Mass was 
not celebrated, and the Sacraments administer’d in divers 
Dioceses of Sicily, notwithstanding the Pope’s interdict? 

303. Qu. Whether every Plea of Conscience is to be re- 
garded? Whether, for Instance, the German Anabaptists, 
Levellers, or fifth Monarchy Men would be tolerated on that 
Pretence ? 

304. Qu. Whether Popish Children bred in Charity 
Schools, when bound out in Apprentiship to Protestant 
Masters, do generally continue Protestants ? 

305. Qu. Whether a Sum, which would go but a little 
Way towards erecting Hospitals for maintaining and educat- 
ing the Children of the Native Irish, might not go far in 
binding them out Apprentices to Protestant Masters, for Hus- 
bandry, useful Trades, and the service of Families? 

306. Qu. Whether if the Parents are overlooked, there 
can be any great Hopes of Success in converting the Children ? 

307. Qu. Whether there be any Instance, of a People’s 
being converted in a Christian Sense, otherwise than by 
preaching to them and instructing them in their own Lan- 
guage? 

308. Qu. Whether Catechists in the Irish Tongue may 
58 not easily be procured and subsisted? And whether this 

would not be the most practicable Means for converting the 
Natives ? 


The Querist 


45 


309. Qu. Whether it be not of great Advantage to the 
Chnrch of Rome, that she hath Clergy suited to all Ranks of 
Men, in gradual Subordination from Cardinals down to 
Mendicants ? 

310. Qu. Whether her numerous poor Clergy are not 
very useful in Missions, and of much influence with the Peo- 
ple? 

311. Qu. Whether in defect of able Missionaries, Persons 
conversant in low Life, and speaking the Irish Tongue, if 
well instructed in the first Principles of Religion and in the 
Popish Controversy, though for the rest on a Level with 
Parish Clerks, or the Schoolmasters of Charity Schools, may 
not be fit to mix with and bring over our poor illiterate Na- 
tives, to the established Church? Whether it is not to be 
wished that some Parts of our Liturgy and Homilies were 
publickly read in the Irish Language ? And whether, in these 
Views, it may not be right to breed up some of the better sort 
of Children in the Charity Schools and qualify them for Mis- 
sionaries, Catechists and Readers? 

312. Qu. Whether there be any Nation of Men governed 
by Reason ? And yet, if there was not, whether this would be 

a good Ar||gument against the use of Reason in public Affairs? 59 

313. Qu. Whether, as others have supposed an Atlantis 
or Eutopia, we also may not suppose an Hyperborean Island 
inhabited by reasonable Creatures? 

314. Qu. Whether an indifferent Person, who looks into 
all Hands, may not be a better Judge of the Play than a 
Party who sees only his own ? 

315. Qu. Whether one, whose End is to make his Coun- 
try-Men think, may not gain his End, even though they 
should not think as he doth ? 


46 


George Berkeley 


316. Qu. Whether he, who only asks, Asserts? And 
whether any Man can fairly confute the Querist? 

317. Qu. Whether the Interest of a Part will not alway 
be preferred to that of the Whole? 


FINIS. 

E R R A T A. 


A G E 10. Line 17. for inexhaustable r. inexhaustible. 
P. 14. L. 22. for Helpless r. Hopeless. P. 16 L. ult. 
for than r. as. || 


THE 


QUERIST. 

CONTAINING 

Several QUERIES, 

Propofed to the 

CONSIDERATION 

O F T H E 

PUBLIC. 

PART II. 



DUBLIN: 

Printed by R. Reilly, on Cork-Hill, 

For G- Risk, G. Ewincj, and W. Smith, Book- 
fellers in Dafnei-Sfrtet , M,dcc,xxxvi. 
























































































































































































THE 


Q U E R I S T, & c. 

Query 1 . 

W Hether there be any Country in Christendom, more 
capable of Improvement than Ireland ? 

2. Qu. Whether we are not as far before other Nations 
with respect to natural Advantages, as we are behind them 
with respect to Arts and Industry ? 

3. Qu. Whether we do not live in a most fertile Soil and 
temperate Climate, and yet whether our People in general 
do not feel great Want and Misery? 

4. Qu. Whether my Countrymen are not readier at find- 
ing Excuses than Remedies? || 4 

5. Qu. Whether it can be reasonably hoped, that our 
State will mend, so long as Property is insecure among us ? 

6. Qu. Whether in that case the wisest Government, or 
the best Laws can avail us? 

7. Qu. Whether a few Mishaps to particular Persons may 
not throw this Nation into the utmost Confusion ? 

8. Qu. Whether the Public is not even on the Brink of 
being undone by private Accidents? 

9. Qu. Whether the Wealth and Prosperity of our Coun- 
try do not hang by a Hair, the probity of one Banker, the 
Caution of another, and the Lives of all? 

4 


50 


George Berkeley 


10. Qu. Whether we have not been sufficiently admon- 
ished of this by some late Events ? 

11. Qu. Whether therefore it be not high time to open 
our Eyes ? 

12. Qu. Whether a National Bank would not at once 
secure our Properties, put an End to Usury, facilitate Com- 
merce, supply the want of Coin, and produce ready Pay- 

5 ments || in all Parts of the Kingdom? See Qu. 206, 207, &c. 
Part I. 

13. Qu. Whether the Use or Nature of Money, which all 
Men so eagerly pursue, be yet sufficiently understood or con- 
sidered by all? 

14. Qu. Whether Mankind are not govern’d by Imitation 
rather than by Reason? 

15. Qu. Whether there be not a Measure or Limit within 
which Gold and Silver are useful, and beyond which they 
may be hurtful? 

16. Qu. Whether that Measure be not the circulating of 
Industry ? 

17. Qu. Whether a Discovery of the richest Gold Mine, 
that ever was, in the Heart of this Kingdom, would be a real 
Advantage to us? 

18. Qu. Whether it would not tempt Foreigners to prey 
upon us? 

19. Qu. Whether it would not render us a lazy, proud 
and dastardly People ? See Qu. 45, Part I. 

20. Qu. Whether every Man who had Money enough, 
would not be a Gentleman? And whether a Nation of Gen- 

6 tlemen would not be a wretched Nation? || 


The Querist 


51 


21. Qu. Whether all things would not bear a high Price? 
And whether Men would not increase their Fortunes without 
being the better for it? 

22. Qu. Whether the same Evils would be apprehended 
from Paper-Money under an honest and thrifty Regulation? 

23. Qu. Whether, therefore, a National Bank would not 
be more beneficial than even a Mine of Gold ? 

24. Qu. Whether private Ends are not prosecuted with 
more Attention and Vigour than the Public? And yet, 
whether all private Ends are not included in the Public? 

25. Qu. Whether Banking be not absolutely necessary to 
the Public Weal? 

26. Qu. Whether even our private Banks, though at- 
tended with such Hazards as we all know them to be, are not 
of singular use in defect of a National Bank? 

27. Qu. Whether without them what little Business and 

Industry there is would not stagnate ? But whether it be not 
a mighty Privilege for a private Person, to be able to create 
an hundred Pounds with a Dash of his Pen? || 7 

28. Qu. Whether the Mystery of Banking did not derive 
it’s Original from the Italians? Whether this acute People 
were not, upon a Time, Bankers over all Europe? Whether 
that Business was not practised by some of their noblest Fami- 
lies, who made immense Profits by it, and whether to that the 
House of Medici did not originally owe its greatness? 

29. Qu. Whether the State of Venice was not the first 
that conceived the Advantage of a National Bank? 

30. Qu. Whether at Venice all Payments of Bills of Ex- 
change and Merchants Contracts are not made in the national 
or public Bank, the greatest Affairs being transacted only by 


52 


George Berkeley 


writing the Names of the Parties, one as Debtor the other as 
Creditor in the Bank-Book? 

31. Qu. Whether nevertheless it was not found expedient, 
to provide a Chest of ready Cash for answering all Demands 
that should happen to be made on account of Payments in 
detail ? 

32. Qu. Whether this Offer of ready Cash, instead of 
Transfers in the Bank, hath not been found to augument 

8 rather than diminish the Stock thereof? || 

33. Qu. Whether at Venice , the Difference in the Value 
of Bank-Money above other Money be not fixed at Twenty 
per Cent ? 

34. Qu. Whether the Bank of Venice be not shut up four 
Times in the Year twenty Days each time? 

35. Qu. Whether by means of this Bank the Public be 
not Mistress of a Million and a half Sterling ? 

36. Qu. Whether the great exactness and Integrity, with 
which this Bank is managed, be not the chief Support of that 
Republic ? 

37. Qu. Whether we may not hope for as much Skill and 
Honesty in a Protestant Irish Parliament , as in a Popish 
Senate of Venice? 

38. Qu. Whether the Bank of Amsterdam was not begun 
about one Hundred and thirty Years ago, and whether at 
this Day, its Stock he not conceived to amount to three 
Thousand Tons of Gold, or thirty Millions Sterling? 

39. Qu. Whether besides coined Money, there he not also 
great Quantities of Ingots or Bars of Gold and Silver lodged 

9 in this Bank? || 

40. Qu, Whether all Payments of Contracts for Goods 
in Gross and Letters of Exchange, must not he made by 


The Querist 


53 


Transfers in the Bank Books, provided the sum exceed three 
Hundred Florins? 

41. Qu. Whether it be not true, that the Bank of 4m- 
sterdam never makes Payments in Cash? 

42. Qu. Whether, nevertheless, it be not also true, that 
no Man who hath Credit in the Bank can want Money from 
particular Persons, who are willing to become Creditors in 
his Stead? 

43. Qu. "Whether any Man thinks himself the Poorer, 
because his Money is in the Bank? 

44. Qu, Whether the Creditors of the Bank of Amster- 
dam are not at Liberty to withdraw their Money when they 
please, and whether this Liberty doth not make them less 
desirous to use it ? 

45. Qu. Whether this Bank be not shut up twice in the 

Year for ten or fifteen Days, during which time the Accounts 
are balanced. || 10 

46. Qu. Whether it be not owing to this Bank, that the 
City of Amsterdam , without the least Confusion, Hazard or 
Trouble, maintains and every Day promotes so general and 
quick a Circulation of Industry. 

47. Qu. Whether it be not the greatest Help and Spur 
to Commerce, that Property can be so readily conveyed and 
so well secured by a Compte en Banc, that is by only writing 
one Manx’s Name for another’s in the Bank-Book? 

48. Q. Whether at the beginning of the last Century, 
those who had lent Money to the Public during the War with 
Spain, were not satisfied by the sole Expedient of placing their 
Names in a Compte en Banc, with Liberty to transfer their 
Claims ? 

49. Qu. Whether the Examples of those easie Transfers 
in the Compte en Bane, thus casually erected, did not tempt 


54 


George Berkeley 


other Men to become Creditors to the Public, in order to 
Profit by the same secure and expeditious Method of keeping 
and transferring their Wealth? 

50. Qu. Whether this Compte en Banc hath not proved 

11 better than a Mine of Gold to Amsterdam ? || 

51. Qu. Whether that City may not be said to owe her 
Greatness to the unpromising Accident of her having been in 
Debt more than she was able to pay ? 

Qu. 52. Whether it be known that any State from such 
small Beginnings, in so short a Time, ever grew to so great 
Wealth and Power, as the Province of Holland hath done; 
and whether the Bank of Amsterdam hath not been the real 
Cause of such extraordinary Growth? 

53. Qu. Whether we are by Nature a more stupid People 
than the Dutch ? And yet whether these Things are suffi- 
ciently considered by our Patriots? 

54. Qu. Whether any thing less than the utter Subver- 
sion of those Republics can break the Banks of Venice and 
Amsterdam? 

55. Qu. Whether at Hamburgh the Citizens have not the 
Management of the Bank, without the medling or Inspection 
of the Senate? 

56. Qu. Whether the Directors be not four principal 

12 Burghers chosen by plurality of || Voices, whose Business is 
to see the Rules observed, and furnish the Cashiers with 
Money ? 

57. Qu. Whether the Book-keepers are not obliged to 
balance their Accounts every Week, and exhibit them to the 
Controllers or Directors? 

58. Qu. Whether any besides the Citizens are admitted 
to have Compte en Bane at Hamburgh? 


The Querist 


55 


59. Qu. Whether there be not a certain Limit, under 
which no Sum can be enter’d into the Bank ? 

60. Qu. Whether each particular Person doth not pay a 
Fee, in Order to be admitted to a Compte en Banc at Ham - 
burgh and Amsterdam ? 

61. Qu. Whether the Effects lodged in the Bank of Ham- 
burgh are liable to be seised for Debt or Forfeiture? 

62. Qu. Whether this Bank doth not lend Money upon 

Pawns at low Interest and only for half a Year, after which 
Term, in default of Payment, the Pawns are punctually sold 
by Auction? || is 

63. Qu. Whether the Book-keepers of the Bank of Ham- 
burgh are not obliged upon Oath, never to reveal what Sums 
of Money are paid in or out of the Bank, or what Effects any 
particular Person has therein? 

64. Qu. Whether, therefore, it be possible to know the 
State or Stock of this Bank ; and yet whether it be not of the 
greatest Reputation, and most established Credit throughout 
the North ? 

65. Qu. Whether the Success of those Publick Banks, in 
Venice , Amsterdam anjl Hamburgh, would not naturally pro- 
duce in other States an Inclination to the same Methods ? 

66. Qu. Whether an absolute Monarchy be so apt to 
gain Credit, and whether the Vivacity of some Humours 
could so well suit with the slow Steps and discreet Manage- 
ment which a Bank requires ? 

67. Qu. Whether the Bank called the General Bank of 

France, contrived by Mr. Law, and established by Letters 
Patent in May, 1716, was not in Truth a particular and not 
a National Bank, being in the Hands of a particular Company 
privileged and protected by the Government? || 14 


56 


George Berkeley 


68. Qu. Whether the Government did not Order, that 
the Notes of this Bank should pass on a Par with ready Money 
in all Payments of the Revenue ? 

69. Qu. Whether this Bank was not obliged to issue only 
such Notes as were payable at Sight? 

70. Qu. Whether it was not made a capital Crime to 
forge the Notes of this Bank? 

71. Qu. Whether this Bank was not restrained from 
Trading either by Sea or Land, and from taking up Money 
upon Interest? 

72. Qu. Whether the Original Stock thereof was not six 
Millions of Livres, divided into Actions of a thousand Crowns 
each? 

73. Qu. Whether the Proprietors were not to hold gen- 
eral Assemblies twice in the Year, for the regulating of their 
Affairs ? 

74. Qu. Whether the Accompts of this Bank were not 
balanced twice every Year? 

75. Whether there were not two Chests belonging to this 
Bank, the one called the general Chest containing their 

15 Specie, their || Bills and their Copper-Plates for the printing 
of those Bills, under the Custody of three Locks, whereof the 
Keys were kept by the Director, the Inspector and Treasurer; 
also another called the ordinary Chest, containing part of the 
Stock not exceeding two hundred Thousand Crowns, under 
the Key of the Treasurer? 

76. Qu. Whether out of this last mentioned Sum, each 
particular Cashier was not to be intrusted with a Share not 
exceeding the Value of twenty Thousand Crowns at a Time, 
and that under good Security? 


The Querist 


57 


77. Qu. Whether the Regent did not reserve to himself 
the Power of calling this Bank to Account, so often as he 
should think Good, and of appointing the Inspector ? 

78. Qu. Whether in the Beginning of the Year, 1719, 
the French King did not convert the general Bank of France 
into a Banque Boyale , having himself purchased the Stock of 
the Company, and taken it into his own Hands, and appointed 
the Duke of Orleans chief Manager thereof. 

79. Qu. Whether from that Time, all Matters relating 

to the Bank were not transacted in the Name, and by the sole 
Authority, of the King? || 16 

80. Qu. Whether his Majesty did not undertake, to re- 
ceive and keep the Cash of all particular Persons, Subjects or 
Foreigners, in his said Royale Banque, without being paid for 
that Trouble? And whether it was not declared, that such 
Cash should not be liable to Seizure on any pretext, not even 
on the King’s own Account? 

81. Qu. Whether the Treasurer alone did not sign all the 
Bills, receive all the Stock paid into the Bank, and keep 
Account of all the In-goings and Out-goings? 

82. Qu. Whether there were not three Registers for the 
enregistring of the Bills kept in the Banque Royale, one by 
the Inspector, another by the Controller, and a third by the 
Treasurer ? 

83. Qu. Whether there was not also a fourth Register, 
containing the Profits of the Bank, which was visited, at least 
once a Week, by the Inspector and Controller? 

84. Qu. Whether beside the general bureau or Compter 
in the City of Paris, there were not also appointed five more 
in the Towns of Lyons, Tours, Rochelle, Orleans and Amiens, 
each whereof was provided with two Chests, one of Specie for 
discharging Bills at Sight, || and another of Bank Bills to bei7 
issued as there should be demand? 


58 


George Berkeley 


85. Qu. Whether, in the above-mentioned Towns, it was 
not prohibited to make Payments in Silver, exceeding the Sum 
of six Hundred Livres ? 

86. Qu. Whether all Creditors were not empowred to 
demand Payment in Bank-bills instead of Specie? 

87. Qu. Whether, in a short Compass of Time, this Bank 
did not undergo many new Changes and Eegulations, by 
several successive Acts of Council? 

88. Qu. Whether the untimely, repeated, and boundless 
Fabrication of Bills did not precipitate the Euin of this 
Bank? 

89. Qu. Whether it be not true, that before the End of 
July, 1719, they had fabricated four Hundred Millions of 
Livres in Bank-Notes, to which they added the Sum of one 
Hundred and twenty Millions more on the twelfth of Sep- 
t ember following, also the same Sum of one Hundred and 
twenty Millions on the twenty-fourth of October, and again 
on the twenty-ninth of December, in the same Year the farther 
Sum of three Hundred and sixty Millions, making the whole, 

18 from an || original Stock of six Millions, mount, within the 
Compass of one Year, to a thousand Millions of Livres? 

90. Qu. Whether on the twenth-eighth of February, 
1720, the King did not make an Union of the Bank with the 
united Company of the East and West-Indies, which from 
that Time had the Administration and Profits of the Banque 
Royale ? 

91. Qu. Whether the King did not still profess himself 
responsible for the Value of the Bank-bills, and whether the 
Company were not responsible to his Majesty for their Man- 
agement ? 

92. Whether sixteen Hundred Millions of Livres, lent to 
his Majesty by the Company, was not a sufficient Pledge to 
Indemnify the King? 


The Querist 


59 


93. Qu. Whether the new Directors were not prohibited 
to make any more Bills without an Act of Council? 

94. Qu. Whether the Chests and Books of the Banque 
were not subjected to the joint Inspection of a Counsellor of 
State, and the Prevot des Marchands, assisted by two Eche- 
vins, a Judge, and a Consul, who had || Power to visit when 19 
they would, and without warning? 

95. Qu. Whether in less than two Years, the Actions or 
Shares of the Indian Company (first established for Misisipi, 
and afterwards increased by the Addition of other Companies 
and further Privileges) did not rise to near two Thousand 
per Cent ? And whether this must be ascribed to real Advan- 
tages of Trade, or to mere Frenzy ? 

96. Qu. Whether from first to last there were not fabri- 
cated Bank-bills, of one Kind or other, to the Value of more 
than two Thousand and six Hundred Millions of Livres, or 
one hundred and thirty Millions Sterling ? 

97. Qu. Whether the Credit of the Bank did not decline 
from its Union with the Indian Company f 

98. Qu. Whether, notwithstanding all the abovemen- 

tioned extraordinary Measures, the Bank-bills did not still 
pass at Par with Gold and Silver, to May , 1720, when the 
French King thought fit, by a new Act of Council, to make 
a Reduction of their Value, which proved a fatal Blow, the 
Effects whereof, though soon retracted, no subsequent Skill 
or Management could ever repair? || 20 

99. Qu. Whether, what no Reason, Reflection, or Fore- 
sight could do, this simple matter of Fact (the most powerful 
Argument with the Multitude) did not do at once, to wit, 
open the Eyes of the People? 

100. Qu. Whether the Dealers in that Sort of Ware had 
ever troubled their Heads, with the Nature of Credit, or the 


60 


George Berkeley 


true Use and End of Banks, but only considered their Bills 
and Actions as things, to which the general Demand gave a 
Price ? 

101. Qu. Whether the Government was not in great Per- 
plexity to contrive Expedients for the getting rid of those 
Bank-bills, which had been lately multiplied with such an 
unlimited Passion? 

102. Qu. Whether Notes to the Value of about ninety 
Millions were not sunk by being paid off in Specie, with the 
Cash of the Compagnie des Indes , with that of the Bank, and 
that of les Hotels des Monnoyes? Whether five Hundred and 
thirty Millions were not converted into Annuities at the Royal 
Treasury? Whether several hundred Millions more in Bank- 
Bills were not extinguished and replaced by Annuities on the 

21 City of Paris on Taxes throughout the Provinces, &c. &c. ? || 

103. Qu. Whether, after all other Shifts, the last and 
grand Resource for exhausting that Ocean, was not the erect- 
ing of a Compte en Banc in several Towns of France ? 

104. Qu. Whether, when the Imagination of a People is 
thoroughly wrought upon and heated by their own Example, 
and the Arts of designing Men, this doth not produce a Sort 
of Enthusiasm which takes Place of Reason, and is the most 
dangerous Distemper in a State? 

105. Qu. Whether this epidemical Madness should not 
be always before the Eyes of a Legislature, in the framing of 
a National Bank? 

106. Qu. Whether, therefore, it may not be fatal to en- 
graft Trade on a National Bank, or to propose Dividends on 
the Stock thereof? See Qu. 274. Part I. 

107. Qu. Whether it be possible, for a National Bank to 
subsist and maintain its Credit, under a French Government? 
See Qu. 98. 


The Querist 


61 


108. Qu. Whether it may not be as useful a Lesson, to 

consider the bad Management of some, as the good Manage- 
ment of others? || 22 

109. Qu. Whether the rapid and surprising Success of 
the Schemes of those, who directed the French Bank did not 
turn their Brains? 

110. Qu. Whether the best Institutions may not be made 
subservient to bad Ends? 

111. Qu. Whether, as the Aim of Industry is Power, and 
the Aim of a Bank is to circulate and secure this Power to 
each Individual, it doth not follow, that absolute Power in 
one Hand is inconsistent with a lasting and flourishing Bank ? 

112. Qu. Whether our natural Appetites, as well as 
Powers, are not limited to their respective Ends and Uses? 
but whether artificial Appetites may not be Infinite ? 

113. Qu. Whether the simple getting of Money, or pass- 
ing it from Hand to Hand without Industry, he an Object 
worthy of a wise Government? 

114. Qu. Whether, if Money be considered as an End, 
the Appetite thereof be not Infinite, but whether the Ends of 
Money it self be not hounded ? 

115. Qu. Whether the mistaking of the Means for the 
End was not a fundamental Error in the French Councils? j| 23 

116. Qu. Whether the total Sum of all other Powers, be 
it of Enjoyment or Action, which belong to Man, or to all 
Mankind together, is not in Truth a very narrow and limited 
Quantity? but whether Fancy is not boundless? 

117. Qu. Whether this capricious Tyrant, which usurps 
the Place of Reason, doth not most cruelly torment and delude 
those poor Men, the Usurers, Stock-jobbers, Overseers, and 
Projectors of content to themselves from heaping up Riches, 
that is from gathering Counters, from Multiplying Figures, 


62 


George Berkeley 


from enlarging Denominations, without knowing what they 
would be at, and without having a proper Regard to the Use, 
or End, or Nature of Things ? 

118. Qu. Whether the Ignisfatuus of Fancy doth not 
kindle immoderate Desires, and lead Men into endless Pur- 
suits and wild Labyrinths? 

119. Qu. Whether Counters be not referred to other 
Things, which so long as they keep Pace and Proportion with 
the Counters, it must be owned the Counters are useful, but 
whether beyond that to value or covet Counters, be not direct 

24 Folly? See Qu. 25 Part I. || 

120. Qu. Whether the Public Aim ought not to be that 
Mens Industry should supply their present Wants, and the 
Over-plus be converted into a Stock of Power? 

121. Qu. Whether the better this Power is secured, and 
the more easily it is transferred, Industry be not so much 
the more encouraged ? 

122. Qu. Whether Money, more than is expedient for 
those Purposes, be not upon the Whole Hurtful rather than 
Beneficial to a State? See Qu. 215. Part I. 

123. Qu. Whether there should not be a constant Care 
to keep the Bills at Par? 

124. Qu. Whether therefore Bank-bills should at any 
Time be multiplied, but as Trade and Business were also 
multiplied ? 

125. Qu. Whether it was not madness in France to Mint 
Bills and Actions, merely to humour the People and rob them 
of their Cash? 

126. Qu. Whether we may not profit by their Mistakes, 
and as some Things are to be avoided, whether there may not 

25 be others || worthy of Imitation, in the Conduct of our Neigh- 
bours ? 


The Querist 


63 


127. Qu. Whether the Way be not clear and open and 
easie, and whether any thing but the Will is wanting to our 
Legislature ? 

128. Qu. Whether Jobs and Tricks are not detested on 
all Hands, but whether it be not the joint Interest of Prince 
and People, to promote Industry? 

129. Qu. Whether all Things considered, a National 
Bank be not the most practicable, sure, and speedy Method to 
mend our Affairs, and cause Industry to flourish among us? 
See Qu. 12. Sup. & Qu. 206, 207. Part I. 

130. Qu. Whether a Compte en Banc or current Bank- 
Bills would best answer our Occasions ? 

131. Qu. Whether a Public Compte en Banc , where Ef- 
fects are received, and Accounts kept with particular Persons, 
be not an excellent Expedient for a great City? See Qu. 47 
& 50. 

132. Qu. What Effect a general Compte en Banc would 
have in the Metropolis of this Kingdom, with one in each 
Province subordinate thereunto? || 

133. Qu. Whether it may not be proper for a great 
Kingdom, to unite both Expedients, to wit, Bank Notes and 
a Compte en Banc? 

134. Qu. Whether, nevertheless, it would be advisable to 
begin with both at once, or rather to proceed first with the 
Bills, and afterwards, as Business multiplied and Money or 
Effects flowed in, to open the Compte en Banc ? 

135. Qu. W T hether, for greater Security, double Books of 
Compte en Banc should not be kept in different Places and 
Hands ? 

136. Qu. Whether it would not be right, to build the 
Compters and publick Treasuries, where Books and Bank 


26 


64 


George Berkeley 


Notes are kept, without Wood all arched and floored with 
Brick or Stone, having Chests also and Cabinets of Iron ? 

137. Qu. Whether divers Registers of the Bank Notes 
should not be kept in different Hands? 

138. Qu. Whether there should not be great Discretion 
in the uttering of Bank Notes, and whether the attempting 

27 to do thingr per Saltum be not often the Way to undo them? || 

139. Qu. Whether the main Art be not by slow Degrees 
and cautions Measures to reconcile the Bank to the Public, 
to wind it insensibly into the Affections of Men, and inter- 
wave it with the Constitution ? 

140. Qu. Whether the promoting of Industry should not 
be always in view, as the true and sole End, the Rule and 
Measure of a National Bank? And whether all Deviations 
from that Object should not be carefully avoided? 

141. Qu. Whether a National Bank may not prevent the 
drawing of Specie out of the Country (where it circulates in 
small Payments) to be shut up in the Chests of particular 
Persons ? 

142. Qu. Whether it may not be useful, for supplying 
Manufactures and Trade with Stock, for regulating Exchange, 
for quickening Commerce, for putting Spirit into the People ? 

143. Qu. Whether Tenants or Debtors could have Cause 
to complain of our Monies being reduced to the English 
Value, if it were withal multiplied in the same, or in a greater 
Proportion ? And whether this would not be the consequence 

28 of a National Bank? See Qu. 29, and 30, Part I. || 

144. Qu. If there be an open sure Way to Thrive, with- 
out Hazard to our selves or Prejudice to our Neighbours, 
what should hinder us from putting it in Practice ? 


The Querist 65 

145. Qu. Whether in so numerous a Senate, as that of 
this Kingdom, it may not be easie to find Men of pure Hands 
and clear Heads fit to contrive and model a Public Bank ? 

146. Whether a View of the Precipice he not sufficient, 
or whether we must tumble Head-long before we are roused. 
See Qu. 210. Part I. 

147. Qu. Whether in this drooping and dispirited Coun- 
try, Men are quite awake? 

148. Qu. Whether we are sufficiently sensible, of the 
peculiar Security there is in having a Bank, that consists of 
Land and Paper, one of which cannot be exported, and the 
other is in no Danger of being exported ? 

149. Qu. Whether it be not delightful to complain ? And 
whether there be not many who had rather utter their Com- 
plaints than redress their Evils? || 

150. Qu. Whether if the Crown of the Wise be their 
Riches * we are not the foolishest People in Christendom ? 

151. Qu. Whether we have not all the while great civil 
as well as natural Advantages ? 

152. Qu. Whether there be any People, who have more 
Leisure to cultivate the Arts of Peace, and study the Public 
Weal? 

153. Qu. Whether other Nations who enjoy any share 
of Freedom, and have great Objects in view, be not unovoid- 
ably embarassed and distracted by Factions ? but whether we 
do not divide upon Trifles, and whether our Parties are not 
a Burlesque upon Politics? 

154. Qu. Whether it be not an Advantage that we are 
not embroiled in Foreign Affairs, that we hold not the Bal- 
lance of Europe , that we are protected by other Fleets and 

* Prov. xiv. 24. 

5 


29 


66 


George Berkeley 


Armies, that it is the true Interest of a powerful People, from 
whom we are descended, to guard us on all Sides ? 

155. Qu. Whether England doth not really love us and 

30 wish well to us, as Bone of her || Bone, and Flesh of her 
Flesh ? and whether it be not our Part, to cultivate this Love 
and Affection all manner of Ways? 

156. Qu. Whether, if we do not reap the Benefits that 
may be made of our Country and Government, want of Will 
in the lower People, or want of Wit in the upper be most in 
fault ? 

157. Qu. What Sea Ports or foreign Trade have the 
Swisses; and yet how warm are those People and how well 
provided ? 

158. Qu. Whether there may not be found a People who 
so contrive as to be impoverished by their Trade ? and whether 
we are not that People ? 

159. Qu. Whether it would not be better for this Island, 
if all our fine Folk of both Sexes were ship’d off, to remain 
in foreign Countries, rather than that they should spend their 
Estates at home in foreign Luxury, and spread the Contagion 
thereof through their native Land? 

160. Qu. Whether our Gentry understand or have a 
Notion of Magnificence, and whether for want thereof, they 

31 do not affect very wretched Distinctions? || 

161. Qu. Whether there be not an Art or Skill in govern- 
ing Human Pride, so as to render it subservient to the Public 
Aim? 

162. Qu. Whether the great and general Aim of the 
Publique should not be to employ the People ? 

163. Qu. What right an eldest Son hath to the worst 
Education ? 


The Querist 


67 


164. Qu. Whether Mens Counsels are not the result of 
their Knowledge and their Principles ? 

165. Qu. Whether an Assembly of Free-Thinkers, Petits 
Maitres, and smart Fellows would not make an admirable 
Senate ? 

166. Qu. Whether there be not labour of the Brains as 
well as of the Hands, and whether the former is beneath a 
Gentleman ? 

167. Qu. Whether the Public be more Interested, to pro- 
tect the Property acquired by mere Birth, than that which is 
the immediate Fruit of Learning and Yertue? 

168. Qu. Whether it would not be a poor and ill indulged 
Project to attempt to promote || the Good of the Community, 32 
by invading the Eights of one part thereof, or of one particular 
Order of Men ? 

169. Qu. Whether the public Happiness be not proposed 
by the Legislature, and whether such Happiness doth not con- 
tain that of the Individuals ? 

170. Qu. Whether, therefore, a Legislator should be con- 
tent with a vulgar Share of Knowledge? Whether he should 
not be a person of Reflection and Thought, who hath made 
it his Study to understand the true Nature and Interest of 
Mankind, how to guide Mens Humours and Passions, how 
to Incite their active Powers, how to make their several 
Talents Cooperate to the mutual Benefit of each other, and the 
general Good of the whole? See Qu. 183, 184 Part I. 

171. Qu. Whether it doth not follow, that above all 
things a Gentleman's Care should be to keep his own Faculties 
sound and entire? 

172. Qu. Whether the Natural Phlegme of the Island 
needs any additional Stupifier? 


68 


George Berkeley 


173. Qu. Whether all Spirituous Liquors are not in 

33 Truth Opiates? || 

174. Qu. Whether our Men of Business are not generally 
very grave by fifty ? 

175. Qu. Whether there he really among us any Parents 
so silly, as to encourage drinking in their Children ? 

176. Qu. Whence it is, that our Ladies are more alive, 
and bear Age so much better than our Gentlemen ? 

177. Qu. Whether all Men have not faculties of Mind or 
Body, which may be employed for the public Benefit ? 

178. Qu. Whether the main Point be not to multiply 
and employ our People ? 

179. Qu. Whether hearty Food and warm Cloathing 
would not enable and encourage the lower sort to Labour ? 

180. Qu. Whether in such a Soil as ours, if there was 
Industry, there could be Want? 

181. Qu. Whether the Way to make Men Industrious, 
he not to let them taste the Fruits of their Industry? And 
whether the labouring Ox should be muzzled? See Qu. 173. 

34 Part I. || 

182. Qu. Whether our Landlords are to be told, that 
Industry and Numbers would raise the Value of their Lands, 
or that one Acre about the Tholsel is worth ten Thousand 
Acres in Conaught ? 

183. Whether our old Native Irish are not the most indo- 
lent and supine People in Christendom ? 

184. Qu. Whether they are yet civilized, and whether 
their Habitations and Furniture are not more sordid than 
those of the Savage Americans ? 

185. Qu. Whether this be altogether their own fault? 


The Querist 


69 


186. Qu. Whether it be not a sad Circumstance to live 
among lazy Beggars? And whether, on the other Hand, it 
would not be delightful to live in a Country swarming, like 
China , with busy People? 

187. Qu. Whether we should not cast about, by all man- 

ner of Means to excite Industry, and to remove what ever 
hinders it ? And whether every one should not lend a helping 
Hand? See Qu. 3. 4. || 35 

188. Qu. Whether Vanity it self should not be engaged 
in this good Work ? And whether it is not to be wished, that 
the finding of Employment for themselves and others, were a 
fashionable Distinction among the Ladies? 

189. Qu. Whether Idleness be the Mother of the Daugh- 
ter of Spleen? 

190. Qu. Whether it may not be worth while to publish 
the Conversation of Iscomachus and his Wife in Xenophon , 
for the Use of our Ladies ? 

191. Whether it is true, that there have been, upon a 
Time, one Hundred Millions of People employed in China , 
without the Woolen Trade, or any foreign Commerce? 

192. Qu. Whether the natural Inducements to Sloth are 
not greater in the Mogol’s Country than in Ireland , and yet 
whether in that suffocating and dispiriting Climate, the Ban - 
yans are not all, Men Women and Children, constantly em- 
ployed ? 

193. Qu. Whether it be not true, that the great MogoVs 
Subjects might under-sell us even in our own Markets, and 
cloath our People || with their Stuffs and Calicoes, if they 36 
were imported Duty-Free? 

194. Qu. Whether there can be a greater Reproach, on 
the leading Men and the Patriots of a Country, than that the 
People should want Employment? 


70 


George Berkeley 


195. Qu. Whether much may not be expected from a 
bienial Consultation of so many wise Men about the public 
Good? 

196. Qu. Whether a Tax upon Dirt would not be one 
way of encouraging Industry? 

197. Qu. Whether it may not he right to appoint Cen- 
sors in every Parish to observe and make Returns of the idle 
Hands ? 

198. Qu. Whether a Register or History of the Idleness 
and Industry of a People would be an useless thing? 

199. Qu. Whether we are apprized, of all the Uses that 
may be made of political Arithmetic? 

200. Qu. Whether it would he a great Hardship, if every 
37 Parish were obliged to find Work for their Poor? || 

201. Qu. Whether Children, especially, should not he 
inured to Labour betimes? 

202. Qu. Whether there should not be erected, in each 
Province, an Hospital for Orphans and Foundlings at the 
Expence of old Batchelors ? 

203. Qu. Whether it be true, that in the Dutch Work- 
houses, things are so managed, that a Child four Years old, 
may earn it’s own Livelihood? 

204. Qu. What a Folly it is to build fine Houses, or 
establish lucrative Posts and large Incomes, under the Notion 
of providing for the Poor ? 

205. Qu. Whether the Poor grown up and in Health 
need any other Provision, hut their own Industry under public 
Inspection ? 

206. Qu. Whether the Poor Tax In England hath les- 
sened or increased the Number of the Poor ? 


The Querist 


71 


207. Qu. Why the Work-house in Dublin , with so good 

an Endowment, should yet be of so little use? And whether 
this may not be owing to that very Endowment? || 38 

208. Qu. Whether that Income might not, by this time, 
have gone through the whole Kingdom, and erected a dozen 
Work-Houses in every County? 

209. Qu. Whether Work-Houses should not be made at 
the least Expence, with Clay Floors and Walls of rough Stone, 
without plastering, cieling, or glazing? 

210. Qu. Whether the Tax on Chairs or Hackney- 
Coaches be not paid, rather by the Country Gentlemen, than 
the Citizens of Dublin? 

211. Qu. Whether it he an impossible Attempt to set our 
People at Work, or whether Industry be a Habit which, like 
other Habits, may by Time and Skill be introduced among 
any People? 

212. Qu. Whether all manner of Means should not be 
employed to possess the Nation in general, with an Aversion 
and Contempt for Idleness and all idle Folk? See Qu. 3. 
Part I. 

213. Qu. Whether it would be a Hardship on People des- 
titute of all Things, if the Public furnished them with Ne- 
cessaries which || they should be obliged to earn by their 39 
Labour ? 

214. Qu. Whether other Nations have not found great 
Benefit from the Use of Slaves in repairing High-roads, mak- 
ing Eivers Navigable, draining Bogs, erecting public Build- 
ings, Bridges, and Manufactures? 

215. Qu. Whether temporary Servitude would not be 
the best Cure for Idleness and Beggary? 


72 


George Berkeley 


216. Qu. Whether the Public hath not a Eight to employ 
those who can not, or who will not, find Employment for 
themselves ? 

217. Qu. Whether all sturdy Beggars should not be 

seized and made Slaves to the Public, for a certain Term of 
Years ? 

218. Qu. Whether he who is chained in a Jail or Dun- 
geon hath not, for the Time, lost his Liberty? And if so, 
whether temporary Slavery be not already admitted among 
us? 

219. Qu. Whether a State of Servitude, wherein he 

should be well worked, fed and cloathed, would not be a Pre- 

40 ferment to such a Fellow? || 

220. Qu. Whether Criminals in the freest Country may 
not forfeit their Liberty, and repair the Damage, they have 
done the Public, by Hard-labour? 

221. Qu. What the Word Servant signifies in the New - 
Testament ? 

222. Qu. Whether the view of Criminals chained in 

Paris, and kept at Hard-labour, would not be very edifying 
to the Multitude? See Qu. 58. Part I. 

223. Qu. Whether the want of such an Institution be not 
plainly seen in England , where the Disbelief of a future State 
hardeneth Rogues against the fear of Death, and where, 
through the great growth of Robbers and House-breakers it 
becomes every Day more necessary? 

224. Qu. Whether it be not easier to prevent than to 

remedy, and whether we should not profit by the Example of 
others ? 


The Querist 


73 


225. Qu. Whether Felons are not often spared, and there- 

fore encouraged, by the Compassion of those who should prose- 
cute them ? || 41 

226. Qu. Whether many that would not take away the 
Life of a Thief, may not nevertheless be willing to bring him 
to a more adequate Punishment? 

227. Qu. Whether there should not be a Difference be- 
tween the Treatment of Criminals and that of other Slaves? 

228. Qu. Whether the most Indolent would be fond of 
Idleness, if they regarded it as the sure Road to Hard-labour ? 

229. Qu. Whether the Industry of the lower part of our 
People doth not much depend on the Expence of the upper? 

230. Qu. What would be the Consequence, of our Gentry 
affected to distinguish themselves by fine Houses rather than 
fine Cloaths? 

231. Qu. Whether any People in Europe , are so meanly 
provided with Houses and Furniture in proportion to their 
Incomes, as the Men of Estates in Ireland ? 

232. Qu. Whether building would not peculiarly encour- 
age all other Arts in this Kingdom? || 42 

233. Qu. Whether Smiths, Masons, Bricklayers, Plaister- 
ers. Carpenters, Joyners, Tylers, Plummers, Glaziers would 
not all find Employment if the Humour of Building pre- 
vailed ? 

234. Qu. Whether, the Ornaments and Furniture of a 
good House do not employ a Humber of all Sorts of Artificers, 
in Iron, Wood, Marble, Brass, Pewter, Copper, Wool, Flax, 
and divers other Materials? 

235. Qu. Whether in Buildings and Gardens, a great 
Humber of Day-labourers do not find Employment? 


74 


George Berkeley 


236. Qu. Whether by these Means much of that Sus- 
tenance and Wealth of this Nation which now goes to For- 
eigners would not be kept at home and nourish and circulate 
among our own People? 

237. Qu. Whether as Industry produced good living, the 
number of Hands and Mouths would not he encreased, and 
in proportion thereunto, whether there would not be every 
Day more Occasion for Agriculture ? And whether this Arti- 

43 cle alone would not employ a world of People? || 

238. Qu. Whether such Management would not equally 
provide for the Magnificence of the Eich, and the Necessities 
of the Poor? See Qu. 125, 126, Part I. 

239. Qu. Whether an Expence in Building and Improve- 
ments doth not remain at home, pass to the Heir, and adorn 
the Public? and whether ally of those things can be said of 
Claret ? 

240. Qu. Whether Fools do not make Fashions and wise 
Men follow them ? See Qu. 13, Part I. 

241. Qu. Whether, for one who hurts his Fortune by 
Improvements, twenty do not ruine themselves by foreign 
Luxury ? 

242. Qu. Whether in Proportion as Ireland was im- 
proved, and beautified by fine Seats, the number of Absentees 
would not decrease ? 

243. Qu. Whether he who employs Men in Buildings and 
Manufactures doth not put Life in the Country, and whether 

44 the Neighbourhood round him be not observed to thrive? || 

244. Qu. Whether Money circulated on the Landlords 
own Lands, and among his own Tenants doth not return into 
his own Pocket? 


The Querist 


75 


245. Qu. Whether every Squire that made his Domaine 
swarm with busy Hands, like a Bee-Hive or Ant-Hill, would 
not serve his own Interest, as well as that of his Country ? 

246. Qu. Whether a Gentleman, who hath seen a little 
of the World and observed how Men live elsewhere, can con- 
tentedly sit down in a cold, damp, sordid Habitation, in the 
midst of a bleak Country, inhabited by Thieves and Beggars ? 

247. Qu. Whether on the other Hand, a handsome Seat 
amidst well improved Lands, fair Villages, and a thriving 
Neighbourhood, may not invite a Man to dwell on his own 
Estate, and quit the Life of an insignificant Saunterer about 
Town, for that of an useful Country Gentleman ? 

248. Qu. Whether it would not be of Use and Ornament, 
if the Towns throughout this Kingdom were provided with 
decent Churches, Town-Houses, Work-Houses, Market- 1| 45 
Places and paved Streets, with some Order taken for Clean- 
liness? See Qu. 196. 

249. Qu. Whether if each of these Towns were addicted 
to some peculiar Manufacture, we should not find, that the 
employing many Hands together on the same Work was the 
Way to perfect our Workmen? And whether all these Things 
might not soon he provided by a domestic Industry, if Money 
were not wanting? 

250. Qu. Whether Money could ever he wanting to the 
Demands of Industry, if we had a National Bank? 

251. Qu. Whether when a Motion was made once upon 
a Time to establish a private Bank in this Kingdom by public 
Authority, divers Gentlemen did not shew themselves forward 
to embark in that Design? 

252. Qu. Whether it may not now be hoped, that our 
Patriots will be as forward to examine and consider the Pro- 
posal of a public Bank, calculated only for the public Good ? 


76 


George Berkeley 


253. Qu. Whether any People upon Earth shew a more 
early Zeal for the Service of their Country, greater Eagerness 

46 to bear || a Part in the Legislature, or a more general Partu- 
riency with respect to Politicks and Public Counsels? 

254. Qu. Whether, nevertheless a light and ludicrous 
Vein be not the reigning Humour; but whether there was 
ever greater Cause to be serious ? 


FINIS. 


E R R A T U M. 


47 


Qu. 168, for Indulg’d, read ill judg’d. || 


THE 


0 U ER I S T 

CONTAINING 

Several QUERIES, 

Propofed to the 

CONSIDERATION 

OF THE 

PUBLIC. 

PART in. 


Confult not with a Merchant concerning Exchange . 
Eccluf*. c. xxxVii. v. u. 



DUBLIN: 

Printed by R. Reilly, on Cork-Hill, 

Forjoi. Leathley, Bookfeller, in Damn-Street* 

M, DCC, XXXVII. 




THE 


Q U E R I S T, &c. 

Query 1 . 

XT 7HETHER the Fable of Hercules and the Carter ever 
V V suited any Nation, like this Nation of Ireland ? 

2. Qu. Whether it he not a new Spectacle nnder the 
Sun, to behold in such a Climate, and such, a Soil, after so 
long a Peace, and under such a gentle Government, so many 
Roads untrodden, Fields untilled. Houses desolate, and Hands 
unemployed ? 

3. Qu. Whether there is any Country in Christendom, 

either Kingdom or Republic, depending, or independent, free 
or enslaved, which may not afford us an useful Lesson? || 4 

4. Qu. Whether the frugal Swisses have any other Com- 
modities hut their Butter and Cheese, and a few Cattle; 
whether, nevertheless, the single Canton of Beam hath not 
in her public Treasury two millions Sterling f 

5. Qu. Whether that small Town of Bearn , with its 
scanty, barren Territory, in a mountainous Corner, without 
Sea-ports, without Manufactures, without Mines, he not rich, 
by mere Dint of Frugality? 

6. Qu. Whether the Swisses in general have not sump- 
tuary Laws, prohibiting the Use of Gold, Jewels, Silver, Silk- 
lace in their Apparel, and indulging the Women only to wear 
Silk on Festivals, Weddings, and publick Solemnities? 


80 


George Berkeley 


7. Qu. Whether there be not two Ways of growing rich, 
sparing and getting? But whether the lazy Spenthrift must 
not be doubly poor? 

8. Qu. Whether Money circulating be not the Life of 
Industry; and whether the want thereof doth not render a 
State gouty and inactive? 

t 

9. Qu. But, whether if we had a national Bank, and our 
present Cash (small as it is) were put into the most con- 
venient Shape, Men should hear any publick Complaints for 

5 want of Money? || 

10. Qu. Whether all Circulation be not alike a Circu- 
lation of Credit, whatsoever Medium (Metal or Paper) is 
employed, and whether Gold be any more than Credit for so 
much Power? See Part I. Qu. 37. 

11. Qu. Whether the Wealth of the richest Nations in 
Christendom doth not consist in Paper, vastly more than in 
Gold and Silver? 

12. Qu. Whether Lord Clarendon doth not aver of his 
own Knowledge, that the Prince of Orange, with the best 
Credit, and the Assistance of the richest Men in Amsterdam, 
was above ten Days endeavouring to raise twenty thousand 
Pounds in Specie, without being able to raise half the Sum 
in all that Time? See Clarendon's History, B. 12. 

13. Qu. Whether the whole City of Amsterdam would 
not have been troubled, to have brought together twenty 
thousand Pounds in one Room? Ibid. 

14. Qu. Whether it be not absolutely necessary, that there 
must be a Bank, and must be a Trust? And, if so, whether 
it be not the most safe and prudent course, to have a national 
Bank and trust the Legislature ? See Part II. Qu. 25, and 

6 2 6 . || 

15. Qu. Whether Objections against Trust in general 
avail, when it is allowed there must be a Trust, and the only 


The Querist 


81 


Question is where to place this Trust, whether in the Legis- 
lature or in private Hands ? 

16. Qu. Whether it can be expected, that private Persons 
should have more Regard to the Public, than the Public it 
self? 

17. Qu. Whether, if there be Hazards from Mismanage- 
ment, those may not be provided against in the framing of a 
public Bank ; but whether any Provision can be made against 
the Mismanagement of private Banks, that are under no 
Check, Control, or Inspection? 

18. Qu. Whatever may be said for the Sake of objecting, 
yet, whether it be not false in Fact, that Men would prefer a 
private Security to a public Security? 

19. Whether a national Bank ought to be considered as a 
new Experiment; and whether it be not a Motive to try this 
Scheme that it hath been already tried with Success in other 
Countries? See Part I. Qu. 200, and Part II. Qu. 52. 

20. Qu. If Power followeth Money, whether this can be 
any where more properly and securely || placed, than in the 7 
same Hands wherein the supreme Power is already placed? 

21. Qu. Whether there be more Danger of Abuse, in a 
private than in a publick Management? 

22. Qu. Whether the proper usual Remedy for Abuses 
of private Banks, be not to bring them before Parliament, 
and subject them to the Inspection of a Committee; and 
whether it be not more prudent to prevent than to redress 
an Evil? 

23. Qu. Supposing there had been hitherto no such 
Thing as a Bank, and the Question were now first proposed, 
whether it would be safer to circulate unlimited Bills in a 
private Credit, or Bills to a limited value on the public Credit 
of the Community, what would Men think? 

6 


82 


George Berkeley 


24. Qu. Whether Experience and Example be not the 
plainest Proof; and whether any Instance can be assigned, 
where a national Bank hath not been attended with great 
Advantage to the Public? 

25. Qu. Whether the Evils apprehended from a national 
Bank are not much more to be apprehended from private 
Banks ; but whether Men by Custom, are not familiarized and 

8 reconciled to || common Dangers, which are therefore though 
less than they really are? 

26. Qu. Whether it would not be very hard, to suppose 
all Sense, Honesty, and public Spirit were in the keeping of 
only a few private Men, and the Public was not fit to be 
trusted ? 

27. Qu. Whether it be not ridiculous to suppose, a Legis- 
lature should be afraid to trust it self? 

28. Qu. But, whether a private Interest be not generally 
supported and pursued with more Zeal than a public ? 

29. Qu. Whether the Maxim, What is every Body's Busi- 
ness is no Body's , prevails in any Country under the Sun 
more than in Ireland ? 

30. Qu. Whether, nevertheless, the Community of a 
Danger, which lulls private Men asleep, ought not to awaken 
the Public? 

31. Qu. Whether there be not less Security, where there 
are more Temptations and fewer Checks? 

32. Qu. If a Man is to risque his Fortune, whether it be 

9 more prudent to risque it on the Cre || dit of private Men, or 
in that of the great Assembly of the Nation? 

33. Qu. Where is it most reasonable to expect wise and 
punctual dealing, whether in a secret impenetrable recess, 
where Credit depends on Secrecy, or in a public Management 
regulated and inspected by Parliament? 


The Querist 


83 


34. Qu. Whether a supine Security he not catching; and 
whether Numbers running the same Risque, as they lessen 
the Caution, may not increase the Danger? 

35. Qu. What real Objection lies against a National 
Bank erected by the Legislature, and in the Management of 
public Deputies, appointed and inspected by the Legislature ? 

36. Qu. What have we to fear from such a Bank, which 
may not be as well feared without it? 

37. Qu. How, why, by what Means, or for what End, 
should it become an Instrument of Oppression? 

38. Qu. Whether we can possibly be on a more precarious 
Root, than we are already? || Whether it be not in the Power 10 
of any particular Person, at once to disappear, and convey 
himself into foreign Parts? Or whether there can be any 
Security in an Estateof Land, when the Demands upon it 
are unknown? 

39. Qu. Whether the establishing of a National Bank, 
if we suppose a Concurrence of the Government, be not very 
practicable ? 

40. Qu. But, whether though a Scheme be never so evi- 
dently practicable and useful to the Public, yet, if conceived 
to interfere with a private Interest, it be not forthwith in 
Danger of appearing doubtful, difficult, and impracticable? 

41. Qu. Whether the legislative Body hath not already 
sufficient Power to hurt, if they may be supposed capable of 
it, and whether a Bank would give them any new Power ? 

42. Qu. What should tempt the Public to defraud itself ? 

43. Qu. Whether, if the Legislature destroy’d the Pub- 

lic, it would not be felo de se; and whether it be reasonable to 
suppose it bent on its own Destruction? || li 


84 


George Berkeley 


44. Qu. Whether the Objection to a public National 
Bank, from Want of Secrecy, be not in truth an Argument for 
it? 

45. Qu . Whether the Secrecy of private Banks be not 
the very thing, that renders them so hazardous ? and whether, 
without, that there could have been, of late, so many Suf- 
ferers ? 

46. Qu. Whether when all Objections are answered, it 
be still incumbent to answer Surmises? 

47. Qu. Whether it were just to insinuate, that Gentle- 
men would be against any Proposal they could not turn into 
a Job. 

48. Qu. Suppose the Legislature passed their Word for 
any private Banker, and regularly visited his Books, would 
not Money lodged in his Bank be therefore reckoned more 
secure ? 

49. Qu. In a Country where the Legislative Body is not 
fit to be trusted, what Security can there be for trusting any 
one else? 

50. Qu. If it be not ridiculous to question, whether the 
Public can find Cash to circulate Bills of a limited Value, 
when private Bankers are supposed to find enough to circulate 

12 them to an unlimited Value? || 

51. Qu. Whether the united Stock of a Nation be not 
the best Security? And whether any thing but the Ruin of 
the State can produce a National Bankrupcy? 

52. Qu. Whether the total Sum of the public Treasure, 
Power, and Wisdom, all cooperating be not most likely to 
establish a Bank of Credit, sufficient to answer the Ends, 
relieve the Wants, and satisfy the Scruples of all People? 

53. Qu. Whether those Hazards, that in a greater Degree 
attend private Banks, can be admitted as Objections against 
a public one ? 


The Querist 


85 


54. Qu. Whether that which is an Objection to every 
thing be an Objection to any thing? And whether the pos- 
sibility of an Abuse be not of that kind ? 

55. Qu. Whether in Fact all things are not more or less 
abused, and yet notwithstanding such Abuse, whether many 
Things are not upon the whole expedient and useful ? 

56. Qu. Whether those Things that are subject to the 
most general Inspection are not the lest subject to Abuse? || 13 

57. Qu. Whether, for private Ends, it may not be some- 
times expedient to object Novelty to Things that have been 
often tried. Difficulty to the plainest Things, and Hazard to 
the safest? 

58. Qu. Whether some Men will not be apt to argue, as 
if the Question was between Money and Credit, and not (as 
in Fact it is) which ought to be preferred private Credit or 
public Credit? See Part I. qu. 208 and 261. 

59. Qu. Whether they will not prudently overlook the 
Evils felt, or to be feared, on one Side ? 

60. Qu. Whether, therefore, those that would make an 
impartial Judgment ought not to be on their Guard, keeping 
both Prospects always in View, balancing the Inconveniencies 
on each Side and considering neither absolutely? 

61. Qu. Whether wilful Mistakes, Examples without a 
Likeness, and general Addresses to the Passions are not often 
more successful than Arguments ? 

62. Qu. Whether there be not an Art to puzzle plain 

Cases, as well as to explain obscure ones ? || 14 

63. Qu. Whether private Men are not often an over- 
Match for the Public, want of Weight being made up for by 
Activity ? 


86 


George Berkeley 


64. Qu. If we suppose neither Sense nor Honesty in our 
Leaders or Kepresentatives, whether we are not already un- 
done, and so have nothing further to fear? 

65. Qu . Suppose a Power in the Government to hurt the 
Public by Means of a National Bank, yet what should give 
them the Will to do this ? Or supposing a Will to do Mischief, 
yet how could a National Bank modelled and administred 
by Parliament put it in their Power? 

68. Qu. Whether even a wicked Will intrusted with 
Power can be supposed to abuse it for no End ? 

67. Qu. Whether it be not much more probable, that 
those who make such Objections do not believe them? 

68. Qu. Whether it be not vain to object, that our Fellow- 
Subjects of Great Britain would malign or obstruct our In- 
dustry, when it is exerted in a Way, which cannot interfere 
with their own? 

66. Qu. Whether it is to be supposed, they should take 
15 Delight in the Dirt and Nakedness || and Famine of our 

People, or envy them Shoes for their Feet and Beef for their 
Bellies ? 

70. Qu. What possible Handle or Inclination could our 
having a national Bank give other People to distress us? 

71. Qu. Whether it be not ridiculous to conceive, that a 
Project for Cloathing and Feeding our Natives should give 
any Umbrage to England ? 

72. Qu. Whether such unworthy Surmises are not the 
pure Effect of Spleen ? 

73. Qu. Whether London is not to be considered as the 
Metropolis of Ireland ? And whether our Wealth (such as it 
is) doth not circulate through London and throughout all 
England, , at freely as that of any Part of his Majesty's Do- 
minions ? 


The Querist 


87 


74. Qu. Whether therefore it be not evidently the In- 
terest of the People of England , to encourage rather than 
oppose a National Bank in this Kingdom, as well as every 
other Means for advancing our Wealth, which shall not im- 
pair their own? 

75. Qu. Whether it is not our Interest to be useful to 
them rather than rival them; and whether || in that Case we 16 
may not be sure of their good Offices? See Part I. qu. 95 
and 99. 

76. Qu. Whether we can propose to thrive, so long as we 
entertain a wrongheaded Distrust of England ? 

77. Qu. Whether, as a National Bank would increase 
our Industry, and that our Wealth, England may not be a 
proportionable Gainer, and whether we should not consider 
the Gains of our Mother-Conntry as some Accession to our 
own? 

78. Qu. Whether the Protestant Colony in this Kingdom 
can ever forget what they owe to England ? 

79. Qu. Whether there ever was in any Part of the 
World, a Country in such wretched Circumstances, and which, 
at the same time, could be so easily remedied, and neverthe- 
less the Remedy not applied? 

80. Qu. What must become of a People, that can neither 
see the plainest Things, nor do the easiest? 

81. Qu. Be the Money lodged in the Bank what it will, 

yet whether an Act to make good Deficiencies would not re- 
move all Scruples? || 17 

82. Qu. If it be objected that a National Bank must 
lower Interest, and therefore hurt the monied Man, whether 
the same Objection would not hold as strong against multi- 
plying our Gold and Silver ? 


88 


George Berkeley 


83. Qu. But whether a Bank that utters Bills, with the 
sole View of promoting the public Weal, may not so propor- 
tion their Quantity, as to avoid several Inconveniencies which 
might attend private Banks ? 

84. Qu. Whether there be any Difficulty in comprehend- 
ing, that the whole Wealth of the Nation is in Truth the 
Stock of a National Bank? And whether any more than the 
Eight Comprehension of this, be necessary to make all Men 
easy with regard to its Credit? See qu. 51 and 52. 

85. Qu. Whether any Thing be more reasonable than 
that the Public, which makes the whole Profit of the Bank, 
should engage to make good its Credit? 

86. Qu. Whether the Prejudices about Gold and Silver 
are not strong, but whether they are not still Prejudices? 

87. Qu. Whether Paper doth not by its Stamp and Sig- 
nature acquire a local Value, and become as precious and 

18 scarce as Gold? And whether it || be not much fitter to cir- 
culate large Sums, and therefore preferable to Gold? 

88. Qu. Whether, in order to make Men see and feel, it 
be not often necessary to inculcate the same thing, and place 
it in different Lights? 

89. Qu. Whether it doth not much import to have a right 
Conception of Money? And whether it’s true and just Idea 
be not that of a Ticket, entitling to Power and fitted to 
record and transfer such Power? 

90. Qu. Whether the Managers and Officers of a National 
Bank ought to be considered otherwise than as the Cashiers 
and Clerks of private Banks ? Whether they are not in effect 
as little trusted, have as little Power, are as much limited by 
Eules, and as liable to Inspection? 

91. Qu. Whether the mistaking this Point may not 
create some prejudice against a National Bank, as if it de- 


The Querist 


89 


pended on the Credit or Wisdom, or Honesty of private Men, 
rather than on the Public, which is really the sole Proprietor 
and Director thereof, and as such obliged to support it ? 

92. Qu. Whether, though the Bank of Amsterdam doth 
very rarely, if at all, pay out Money, yet whether every Man 
possessed of Specie || be not ready to convert it into Paper, 19 
and act as Cashier to the Bank? And whether, from the 
same Motive, every monied Man throughout this Kingdom, 
would not be Cashier to our National Bank? 

94. Qu. Whether a National Bank would not be the 
great Means and Motive for employing our poor in Manu- 
factures? See Part II. qu. 212. and 250. 

94. Qu. Whether Money, though lent out only to the 
rich, would not soon circulate among the poor ? And whether 
any Man borrows but with an intent to circulate? 

95. Qu. Whether both Government and People would 
not in the Event, be Gainers by a National Bank? And 
whether any Thing but wrong Conceptions of its Nature can 
make those that wish well to either, averse from it? 

96. Qu. Whether it may not be right to think, and to 
have it thought, that England and Ireland Prince and People, 
have one and the same Interest ? 

97. Qu. Whether, if we had more Means to set on Foot 

such Manufactures and such Commerce, as consists with the 
Interest of England , there would not of Course be less Sheep- 
walk, and less Wool exported to foreign Countries? And 
whether a National Bank would not supply such Means? 
See Part II. qu. 250. || 20 

98. Qu. Whether we may not obtain that as Friends, 
which it is in vain to hope for as Rivals ? 

99. Qu. Whether in every Instance by which we prejudice 
England , we do not in a greater Degree prejudice our selves ? 
See Part II. qu. 153. and 154. 


90 


George Berkeley 


100. Qu. Whether in the rude original of Society, the 
first Step was not the exchanging of Commodities, the next 
a substituting of Metals by Weight as the common Medium 
of Circulation, after this the making use of Coin, lastly a 
further Refinement by the Use of Paper with proper Marks 
and Signatures ? And whether this, as it is the last, so it be 
not the greatest Improvement ? 

101. Qu. Whether we are not in Fact the only People, 
who may be said to starve in the midst of Plenty ? 

102. Qu. Whether Business in general doth not languish 
among us ? Whether our Land is not untilled ? Whether its 
Inhabitants are not upon the Wing? 

103. Qu. Whether there can be a worse Sign than that 
People should quit their Country for a Livelihood ? Though 
Men often leaxe their Country for Health or Pleasure, or 

21 Riches, yet to || leave it merely for a Livelyhood? Whether 
this be not exceeding bad, and sheweth some peculiar Mis- 
management ? 

104. Qu. Whether our Circumstances do not call aloud 
for some present Remedy? And whether that Remedy be 
not in our own Power ? 

105. Qu. Whether in order to redress our Evils, artificial 
Helps, are not most wanted, in a Land where Industry is most 
against the natural Grain of the People ? 

106. Qu. Whether of all the Helps to Industry that ever 
were invented, there he any more secure, more easy, and more 
effectual than a National Bank? 

107. Qu. Whether Medicines do not recommend them- 
selves by Experience, even though their Reasons he obscure? 
But whether Reason and Fact are not equally clear, in Favour 
of this political Medicine ? 

108. Qu. Whether, although the Prepossessions about 
Gold and Silver have taken deep root, yet the Example of our 


The Querist 


91 


Colonies in America doth, not make it as plain as Day-Light, 
that they are not so necessary to the Wealth of a Nation, as 
the vulgar of all Banks imagine? See Part I. qu. 284 and 
285. 

109. Qu, Whether it he not evident that we may main- 
tain a mnch greater inward and out || ward Commerce, and he 22 
five times richer than we are, nay, and our Bills abroad be of 
far greater Credit, though we had not one Ounce of Gold or 
Silver in the whole Island? 

110. Qu. Whether wrongheaded Maxims, Customs, Fash- 
ions are not sufficient to destroy any People, much more a 
People which hath so few Resources as the Inhabitants of 
Ireland ? 

111. Qu. Whether it would not be an horrible Thing, to 
see our Matrons make dress and play their chief Concern. 

112. Qu. Whether our Ladies might not as well endow 
Monasteries as wear Flanders Lace f and whether it be not 
true that Popish Nuns are maintained by Protestant Contri- 
butions? 

113. Qu. Whether England , which hath a free Trade, 
whatever she remits for foreign Luxury with one Hand, doth 
not with the other receive much more from Abroad ? Whether, 
nevertheless, this Nation would not be a Gainer, if our Women 
would content themselves, with the same Moderation in Point 
of Expence, as the English Ladies? 

114. Qu. But whether it be not a notorious Truth, that 

our Irish Ladies are on a Foot, as to dress with those of three 
times their Fortune in England? || 23 

115. Qu. Whether it be not even certain, that the Ma- 
trons of this forlorn Country send out a greater Proportion 
of its Wealth, for fine Apparel, than any other Females on 
the whole Surface of this terraqueous Globe? 


92 


George Berkeley 


116. Qu. Whether the Expence, great as it is, be the 
greatest Evil; but whether this Eolly may not produce many 
other Follies, an entire Derangement of Domestic Life, ab- 
surd Manners, neglect of Duties, bad Mothers, a general Cor- 
ruption in both Sexes? 

117. Qu. Whether therefore a Tax on all Gold and 
Silver in Apparel, on all foreign Laces and Silks, may not 
raise a Fund for the Bank, and at the same Time have other 
salutary Effects on the Public? 

118. Qu. But if Gentlemen had rather tax themselves, 
in another Way, whether an additional Tax of ten Shillings- 
the Hogshead on Wines, may not supply a sufficient Fund for 
the National Bank, all Defects to be made good by Parlia- 
ment? 

119. Qu. Whether upon the Whole it may not be right 
24 to appoint a National Bank? || 

120. Qu. Whether the Stock and Security of such Bank 
would not be, in Truth, the National Stock, or the total Sum 
of the Wealth of this Kingdom ? See qu. 84. 

121. Qu. Whether, nevertheless, there should not be a 
particular Fund for present Use, in answering Bills and 
circulating Credit? 

122. Qu. Whether for this End, any Fund may not suf- 
fice, provided an Act be passed for making good Deficiencies ? 

123. Qu. Whether the sole Proprietor of such Bank: 
should not be the Public, and the sole Director the Legisla- 
ture? 

124. Qu. Whether the Managers, Officers and Cashiers 
should not be Servants of the Public, acting by Orders and 
limited by Rules of the Legislature? 


The Querist 


93 


125. Qu. Whether there should not be a standing Num- 
ber of Inspectors, one third Men in great Office, the rest 
Members of both Houses, half whereof to go out, and half 
to come in every Session? 

126. Qu. Whether those Inspectors should not, all in a 
Body, visit twice a Year, and three as often as they pleased? || 25 

127. Qu. Whether the general Bank should not be in 
Dublin , and subordinate Banks or Compters, one in each 
Province of Munster , Ulster and Connaught? 

128. Qu. Whether there should not be such Provisions 
of Stamps, Signatures, Checks, strong Boxes, and all other 
Measures for securing the Bank Notes and Cash, as are usual 
in other Banks? 

129. Qu. Whether these ten or a dozen last Queries may 
not easily be converted into Heads of a Bill? See Part I. 
and II. 

130. Qu. Whether any one concerns himself, about the 
Security or Funds of the Banks of Venice or Amsterdam? 
And whether in a little Time, the Case would not be the same 
as to our Bank? 

131. Qu. Whether, nevertheless, the first Beginnings of 
Expedients do not always meet with Prejudices, and whether 
even the Prejudices of a People ought not to be respected ? 

132. Qu. Whether a National Bank be not the true Phi- 
losopher’s Stone in a State? See Part II. qu. 23. || 26 

133. Qu. Whether it be not the most obvious Remedy 
for all the Inconveniencies we labour under, with Regard to 
our Coin? 

134. Qu. Whether it be not agreed on all Hands, that our 
Coin is on a very bad Foot, and calls for some present 
Remedy? 


94 


George Berkeley 


135. Qu. Whether the Want of Silver hath not intro- 
duced a Sort of Traffick for Change, which is purchased at 
no inconsiderable Discount, to the great Obstruction of our 
Domestic Commerce? 

136. Qu. Whether, though it be evident Silver is wanted, 
it be yet so evident, which is the best Way of providing for 
this Want? Whether by lowering the Gold, or raising the 
Silver, or partly one, partly the other? 

137. Qu. Whether a partial raising of one Species be 
not, in truth, granting a Praemium to our Bankers, for im- 
porting such Species? And what that Species is which de- 
serves most to be encouraged? 

138. Qu. Whether it be not just, that all Gold should 
7 be alike rated according to its Weight and Fineness? || 

139. Qu. Whether this may be best done, by lowering 
some certain Species of Gold, or by raising others, or by 
joining both Methods together? 

140. Qu. Whether all Regulations of Coin should not be 
made, with a View to encourage Industry and a Circulation 
of Commerce, throughout the Kingdom ? 

141. Qu. Whether the North and the South have not, 
in truth, one and the same Interest in this Matter? 

142. Qu. Whether to oil the Wheels of Commerce, be 
not a common Benefit? And whether this be not done by 
avoiding Fractions and multiplying small Silver? 

143. Qu. But, whether a public Benefit ought to be 
obtained by unjust Methods, and therefore, whether any Re- 
duction of Coin should be thought of, which may hurt the 
Properties of private Men? 

144. Qu. Whether those Parts of the Kingdom, where 
Commerce doth most abound, would not be the greatest 

28 Gainers by having our Coin placed on a right Foot? || 


The Querist 


95 


145. Qu. Whether, in case a Reduction of Coin be 
thought expedient, the uttering of Bank Bills, at the same 
Time may not prevent the Inconveniencies of such a Reduc- 
tion? 

146. Qu. But whether any public Expediency could 
countervail a real Pressure, on those who are least able to 
hear it. Tenants and Debtors? 

147. Qu. Whether, nevertheless, the Political Body, as 
well as the Natural, must not sometimes be worse in order to 
be better? 

148. Qu. Whether, all Things considered, a general rais- 
ing the Value of G-old and Silver be not so far from bringing 
greater Quantities thereof into the Kingdom, that it would 
produce a direct contrary Effect, inasmuch as less, in that 
Case, would serve, and therefore less be wanted? And 
whether Men do not import, a Commodity, in proportion to the 
Demand or Want of it? 

149. Qu. Whether the lowering of our Gold would not 
create a Fever in the State? And whether a Fever be not 
sometimes a Cure ; but whether it be not the last Cure a Man 
would choose? 

150. Qu. What if our other Gold were raised to a Par 

with Portugal Gold, and the Value of Silver in general raised, 
with Regard to that of Gold? || 29 

151. Qu. Whether the Public Ends, may or may not, be 
better answered by such Augmentation, than by a Reduction 
of our Coin? 

152. Qu. Provided Silver is multiplied, be it by raising 
or diminishing the Value of our Coin, whether the great End 
is not answered? 

153. Qu. Whether raising the Value of a particular 
Species will not tend to multiply such Species, and to lessen 


96 


George Berkeley 


others in proportion thereunto ? And whether a much less 
Quantity of Cash in Silver would not, in reality, enrich the 
Nation more than a much greater in Gold? 

154. Qu. Whether, if a Reduction be thought necessary, 
the obvious Means to prevent all Hardships and Injustice, be 
not a National Bank? 

155. Qu. TJpon Supposition, that the Cash of this King- 
dom was five hundred thousand Pounds, and by lowering the 
various Species, each one Fifth of its Value, the whole Sum 
was reduced to four hundred thousand Pounds, whether the 
Difficulty of getting Money, and consequently of paying Rents, 
would not be encreased in the Proportion of Five to Four ? 

156. Qu. Whether such Difficulty would not be a great 
30 and unmerited Distress on all the Te || nants in the Nation? 

But if, at the same Time with the aforesaid Reduction, there 
were uttered one hundred thousand Pounds, additional to 
the former current Stock, whether such Difficulty or Incon- 
venience would then be felt? 

157. Qu. Whether, cceteris paribus , it be not true that 
the Price of Things increase, as the Quantity of Money in- 
creaseth, and are diminished as that is diminished? And 
whether, by the Quantity of Money, is not to be understood 
the Amount of the Denominations, all Contracts being nomi- 
nal for Pounds, Shillings and Pence, and not for Weights of 
Gold or Silver? 

158. Qu. Whether in any foreign Market, two Pence 
advance in a Kilderkin of Corn could greatly affect our Trade ? 

159. Qu. Whether, in Regard of the far greater Changes 
and Fluctuations of Price from the Difference of Seasons and 
other Accidents, that small Rise should seem considerable ? 

160. Qu. Whether our Exports do not consist of such 
Necessaries as other Countries cannot well be without? 


The Querist 


97 


161 . Qu. Whether upon the Circulation of a National 

Bank more Land would not be tilled, more Hands employed, 
and consequently more Commodities exported? || 31 

162 . Qu. Whether, setting aside the Assistance of a Na- 
tional Bank, it will be easy to reduce or lower our Coin, 
without some Hardship (at least for the present) on a great 
Number of particular Persons? 

163 . Qu. Whether, nevertheless, the Scheme of a Na- 
tional Bank doth not intirely stand clear of this Question; 
and whether such Bank may not compleatly subsist and 
answer its Ends, although there should be no Alteration at 
all made in the Value of our Coin? 

164 . Qu. Whether, if the ill State of our Coin be not 
redressed, that Scheme would not be still more necessary, 
inasmuch as a National Bank, by putting new Life and 
Vigour into our Commerce, may prevent our feeling the ill 
Effects of the Want of such Bedress? 

165 . Qu. Whether Men united by Interest are not often 
divided by Opinion; and whether such difference in Opinion 
be not an Effect of Misapprehension? 

166 . Qu. Whether two Things are not manifest, First, 
that some Alteration in the Value of our Coin is highly 
expedient, Secondly, that whatever Alteration is made, the 
tenderest Care || should be had of the Properties of the People, 32 
and even a Eegard paid to their Prejudices ? 

167 . Qu. Whether our taking the Coin of another Na- 
tion for more than it is worth be not, in reality and in event, 
a Cheat upon our selves? 

168 . Qu. Whether a particular Coin over-rated will not 
be sure to flow in upon us, from other Countries, beside that 
where it is coined? 

169 . Qu. Whether, in case the Wisdom of the Nation 
shall think fit to alter our Coin, without erecting a National 

7 


98 


George Berkeley 


Bank, the Rule for lessening or avoiding present Inconven- 
ience should not be so to order Matters, by raising the Silver 
and depressing the Gold, as that the total Sum of coined 
Cash within the Kingdom shall, in denomination, remain 
the same, or amount to the same nominal Value, after the 
Change that it did before? 

170. Qu. Whether all Inconvenience ought not be les- 
sened as much as may be; but after all, whether it would be 
prudent, for the Sake of a small Inconvenience, to obstruct 
a much greater Good? And whether it may not sometimes 
happen that an Inconvenience, which in Fancy and general 
Discourse seems great, shall when accurately inspected and 

33 cast up, appear inconsiderable? || 

171. Qu. Whether in public Councils the Sum of Things, 
here and there, present and future, ought not to be regarded ? 

172. Whether Silver and small Money be not that which 
circulates the quickest, and passeth through all Hands, on the 
Road, in the Market, at the Shop ? 

173. Qu. Whether all Things considered, it would not 
be better for a Kingdom that its Cash consisted, of half a 
Million in small Silver, than of two Millions in Gold? See 
Part I. qu. 22. 

174. Qu. Whether there he not every Day five hundred 
lesser payments made for one that requires Gold ? 

175. Qu. Whether Spain , where Gold hears the highest 
Value, be not the laziest, and China , where it bears the lowest, 
be not the most industrious Country in the known World? 

176. Qu. Money being a Ticket, which entitles to Power 
and records the Title, whether such power avails otherwise 
than as it is exerted into Act? 

177. Qu. Whether it be not evidently the Interest of 
every State, that its Money should rather circulate than 

34 stagnate? || 


The Querist 


99 


178. Qu. Whether the principal Use of Cash be not it ? s 
ready passing from Hand to Hand, to answer common Oc- 
casions, and whether common Occasions of all Sorts of People 
are not small ones ? 

179. Qu. Whether business at Fairs and Markets is not 
often at a Stand, and often hindered, even though the Seller 
hath his Commodities at Hand, and the Purchaser his Gold, 
yet for Want of Change? 

180. Qu. Whether beside that Value of Money which is 
rated by weight, there be not also another Value consisting 
in it’s aptness to circulate? 

181. Qu. As Wealth is really Power, and Coin a Ticket 
conveying Power, whether those Tickets which are the fittest 
for that Use, ought not to be preferred? 

182. Qu. Whether those Tickets which singly transfer 
small Shares of Power, and being multiplied, large Shares, 
are not fitter for common Use than those which singly trans- 
fer large Shares? See qu. 178. 

183. Qu. Whether the Public is not more benefited, by a 

Shilling that circulates, than a Pound that lies dead? || 35 

184. Qu. Whether Six Pence twice paid, be not as good 
as a Shilling once paid ? 

185. Qu. Whether the same Shilling circulating in a 
Village may not supply one Man with Bread, another with 
Stockings, a Third with a Knife, a Fourth with Paper, a 
Fifth with Kails, and so answer many Wants which must 
otherwise have remained unsatisfied? 

186. Qu. Whether facilitating and quickening the Cir- 
culation of Power to supply Wants, be not the promoting of 
Wealth and Industry among the lower People? And whether 
upon this the Wealth of the Great doth not depend? 

7 * 


100 


George Berkeley 


187. Qu. Whether, without the proper Means of circu- 
lation, it be not in vain, to hope for thriving Manufactures 
and a busy People? 

188. Qu. Whether four Pounds in small Cash may not 
circulate and enliven an Irish Market, which many four 
Pound Pieces would permit to stagnate ? 

189. Qu. Whether a Man that could move nothing less 
than a hundred Pound Weight would not be much at a Loss 
to supply his Wants; and whether it would not be better for 

36 him to be less strong and more active? || 

190. Qu. Whether the natural Body can be in a State of 
Health and Vigour, without a due circulation in the Ex- 
tremities, even in the Lingers and Toes? And whether the 
Political Body, any more than the Natural, can thrive without 
a proportionable Circulation through the minutest and most 
inconsiderable Parts thereof ? 

191. Qu. If we had a Mint for coining only Shillings, 
Six-pences, and Copper-Money, whether the Nation would 
not soon feel good Effects thereof? 

192. Qu. Whether the greater Waste by wearing of small 
Coins would not be abundantly overbalanced by their Useful- 
ness? 

193. Qu. Whether it be not the Industry of common 
People that feeds the State, and whether it be possible to keep 
this Industry alive without small Money ? 

194. Qu. Whether the Want of this be not a great Bar, 
to our employing the People in these Manufactures which are 
open to us, and do not interfere with Great-Britain ? 

195. Qu. Whether therefore such Want doth not drive 
Men into the lazy Way of employing Land under Sheep- 

87 Walk? || 


The Querist 


101 


196. Qu. Whether the running of Wool from Ireland 
can so effectually be prevented, as by encouraging other Busi- 
ness and Manufactures among our People? 

197. Qu. Whatever Commodities Great-Britain import- 
eth, which we might supply, whether it he not her real Interest 
to import them from us, rather than from any other People ? 

198. Qu. Whether the Apprehension of many among us 
(who for that very Reason stick to their Wool) that England 
may hereafter prohibit, limit, or discourage our Linen Trade, 
when it hath been once, with great Pains and Expence thor- 
oughly introduced and settled in this Land, be not altogether 
groundless and unjust? See Part I. qu. 99 and Part II. qu. 
155. 

199. Qu. Whether it is possible for this Country, which 
hath neither Mines of Gold, nor a free Trade, to support, for 
any Time, the sending out of Specie? 

200. Qu. Whether in Fact our Payments are not made 
by Bills ? And whether our foreign Credit doth not depend 
on our Domestic Industry, and our Bills on that Credit? || 

201. Qu. Whether in Order to mend it, we ought not 
first to know the peculiar Wretchedness of our State? And 
whether there be any knowing of this but by Comparison? 

202. Qu. Whether there are not single Market-Towns in 
England, that turn more Money in buying and selling, than 
whole Countries (perhaps Provinces) with us? 

203. Qu. Whether the small Town of Bermingham alone 
doth not, upon an average, circulate every Week one way or 
other, to the Value of fifty thousand Pounds? But whether 
the same Crown may not be often paid ? 

204. Qu. Whether there be any Woollen Manufacture in 
Bermingham ? 


38 


102 


George Berkeley 


205. Qu. Whether bad Management may not be worse 
than Slavery? And whether any Part of Christendom , be 
in a more languishing Condition than this Kingdom? 

206. Qu. But whether any Kingdom in Europe be so 
good a Customer at Bourdeaux as Ireland ? 

207. Qu. Whether the Police and OEconomy of France 
be not governed by wise Councils ; And whether any one from 

39 this Country, who sees || their Towns, and Manufactures, and 
Commerce, will not wonder what our Senators have been 
doing ? 

208. Qu. What Variety and Number of excellent Manu- 
factures are to be met with throughout the whole Kingdom 
of France ? 

209. Qu. Whether there are not every where some or 
other Mills for many Uses, Forges and Furnaces, for Iron 
Work, Looms for Tapestry, Glass-Houses, and so forth? 

210. Qu. What Quantities of Paper, Stockings, Hats, 
what Manufactures in Wool, Silk, Linen, Hemp, Leather, 
Wax, Wool, Earthen-Ware, Brass, Lead, Tin, &c. 

211. Qu. Whether the Manufactures and Commerce of 
the single Town of Lyons do not amount to a greater Value, 
than all the Manufactures, and all the Trade of this Kingdom 
taken together? 

212. Qu. Whether it be not true, that within the Compass 
of one Year there flowed from the South-Sea, when that 
Commerce was open, into the single Town of St. Malo’s, a 
Sum in Gold and Silver equal to four times the whole Specie 
of this Kingdom? And whether that same Part of France 
doth not at present draw from Cadiz, up || wards of two hun- 

40 dred thousand Pounds per Annum ? 

213. Qu. Whether in the Anniversary Fair at the small 
Town of Beaucair upon the Rhone, there be not as much 
Money laid out as the current Cash of this Kingdom amounts 
to? 


The Querist 


103 


214. Qu. Whether it be true that the Dutch make ten 
Millions of Livres, every Return of the Flota and Galleons, 
by their Sales, at the Indies , and at Cadiz? 

215. Qu. Whether it he true, that England makes at 
least one hundred thousand Pounds per Annum, , by the single 
Article of Hats sold in Spain? 

216. Qu. Whether the very Shreds shorn from Woollen 
Cloth, which are thrown away in Ireland, do not make a 
beautiful Tapestry in France ? 

217. Qu. Whether the Toys of Thiers do not employ five 
thousand Families? 

218. Qu. Whether there be not a small Town or two in 
France , which supply all Spain with Cards ? 

219. Qu. Whether there be not French Towns subsisted 

merely by making Pins? || 41 

220. Qu. Whether the coarse Fingers of those very 
Women, those same Peasants, who one Part of the Year till 
the Ground and dress the Vineyards, are not another employed 
in making the finest French Point? 

221. Qu. Whether there is not a great Humber of idle 
Fingers, among the Wives and Daughters of our Peasants ? 

222. Qu. Whether, about twenty five Years ago, they did 
not first attempt to make Porcelain in France; and whether, 
in a few Years, they did not make it so well, as to rival that 
which comes from China. 

223. Qu. Whether the French do not raise a Trade from 
Saffron, dying Drugs, and the like Products, which may do 
with us as well as with them? 

224. Qu. Whether we may not have Materials of our own 
Growth to supply all Manufactures, as well as France , except 
Silk, and whether the Bulk of what Silk, even they manufac- 
ture, be not imported ? 


104 


George Berkeley 


225. Qu. Whether it be possible for this Country to grow 
rich, so long as what is made by Domestic Industry, is spent 

42 in foreign Luxury? || 

226. Qu. Whether Part of the Profits of the Bank should 
not be employed, in erecting Manufactures of several Kinds, 
which are not likely to be set on Foot and carried on to Per- 
fection, without great Stock, publick Encouragement, general 
Begulations, and the Concurrence of many Hands? See qu. 
238. 

227. Qu. Whether our Natural Irish are not partly 
Spaniards and partly Tartars ; and whether they do not bear 
Signatures of their Descent from both these Nations, which 
is also confirmed by all their Histories ? 

228. Qu. Whether the Tartar Line is not numerous in 
this Land ; and whether there is an idler Occupation under the 
Sun, than to attend Flocks and Herds of Cattle ? 

229. Qu. Whether the Wisdom of the State should not 
wrestle with this hereditary Disposition of our Tartars , and 
with a high Hand introduce Agriculture ? 

230. Qu. Whether it were not to he wished, that our 
People shewed their Descent from Spain, rather by their 
Honour and Honesty than their Pride, and if so, whether 
they might not easily insinuate themselves into a larger 

43 Share of the Spanish Trade? || 

231. Qu. Whether once upon a Time France did not, 
by her Linen alone, draw yearly from Spain about eight Mil- 
lions of Livres ? 

232. Qu. Whether the French have not suffered in their 
Linen Trade with Spain, by not making their Cloth of due 
Breadth; and whether any other People have suffered, and 
are still likely to suffer through the same Prevarication? 


The Querist 


105 


233. Qu. Whether the Spaniards are not rich and lazy, 
and whether they have not a particular Inclination and 
Favour for the Inhabitants of this Island? But whether a 
punctual People do not love punctual Dealers? 

234. Q'u. Whether about fourteen Years ago, we had not 
come into a considerable Share of the Linen Trade with 
Spain , and what put a Stop to this? 

235. Qu. Whether we may not, with common Industry 
and common Honesty, under-sell any Nation in Europe ? 

236. Qu. Whether if the Linen Manufacture were car- 

ried on in the other Provinces, as well as in the North , the 
Merchants of Corice, Limeric, and Galway would not soon 
find the Way to Spain ? || 44 

237. Qu. Whether the Woollen Manufacture of England 
is not divided into several Parts or Branches, appropriate to 
particular Places, where they are only, or principally, manu- 
factured, fine Cloths in Somertshire , coarse in Yorkshire, long 
Ells at Exeter, Saies at Sudbury, Crapes at Norwich, Linseys 
at Kendal, Blankets at Whitney, and so forth? 

238. Qu. Whether the united Skill, Industry, and Emu- 
lation of many together on the same Work, he not the Way 
to advance it? And whether it had been otherwise possible 
for England, to have carried on her Woollen Manufactures to 
so great Perfection? 

239. Qu. Whether it would not on many Accounts be 

right, if we observed the same Course with respect to our 
Linen Manufacture, and that Diapers were made in one Town 
or District, Damasks in Another, Sheeting in a Third, fine 
wearing Linen in a Fourth, coarse in a Fifth, in another 
Cambricks, in another Thread and Stockings, in others 
stamped Linen, or striped Linen, or Tickens, or dyed Linen, 
of which last Kinds there is so great a Consumption among 
the Seafaring Men of all Nations ?|| 45 


106 


George Berkeley 


240. Qu. Whether it may not be worth while, to inform 
our selves of the different Sorts of Linen, which are in Be- 
quest among different People? 

241. Qu. Whether we do not yearly consume of French 
Wines about a thousand Tun more than either Sweden or 
Denmark, and yet, whether those Nations pay Beady-money 
as we do ? See Part I. qu. 169. 

242. Qu. Whether they are not the Swiss, that make 
Hay, and gather in the Harvest throughout Alsatia ? 

243. Qu. Whether it he not a Custom for some thousand 
of French Men to go about the Beginning of March into 
Spain, and having tilled the Lands, and gathered the Harvest 
of Spain, to return Home with Money in their Pockets, about 
the End of November ? 

244. Qu. Whether of late Years our Irish Labourers do 
not carry on the same Business in England, to the great Dis- 
content of many there? But whether we have not much 
more Beason than the People of England, to be displeased at 

46 this Commerce? || 

245. Qu. Whether, notwithstanding the Cash supposed 
to be brought into it, any Nation is in Truth, Gainer, by 
such Traffic? 

246. Qu. Whether the Industry of our People employed 
in foreign Land, while our own are left uncultivated, be not * 
a great Loss to the Country? 

247. Qu. Whether it would not he much better for us, 
if, instead of sending our Men Abroad, we could draw Men 
from the Neighbouring Counties to cultivate our own? 

248. Qu. Whether, nevertheless, we are not apt to think 
the Money imported by our Labourers to be so much clear 
Gains to this Country ; but whether a little Beflection, and a 
little political Arithmetic, may not shew us our Mistake? 


The Querist 


107 

249. Qu. Whether our Prejudices about Gold and Silver 
are not very apt to infect or misguide our Judgments and 
Reasonings about the public Weal? See qu. 291. and Part 
II. qu. 13 , 14, 15. 

250. Qu. Whether it he not a good Rule whereby to judge 

of the Trade of any City, and its Usefulness, to observe 
whether there is a Circulation through the Extremities, and 
whether the People round about are Busy and Warm? || 47 

251. Qu. Whether we had not, some Years since, a Manu- 
facture of Hats at Athlone, and of Earthen-Ware at Arlclow, 
and what became of those Manufactures ? 

252. Qu. Why do we not make Tiles, of our own, for 
Flooring and Roofing, rather than bring them from Holland? 

253. Qu. What Manufactures are there in France and 
Venice of Gilt-Leather , how Cheap, and how Splendid a 
Furniture ? 

254. Qu. Whether we may not for the same Use, manu- 
facture divers Things at Home, of more Beauty and Variety, 
than Wainscot, which is imported at such Expence from 
Norway? 

255. Qu. Whether the Use and the Fashion will not soon 
make a Manufacture? 

256. Qu. Whether if our Gentry used to drink Mead and 
Cyder, we should not soon have those Liquors in the utmost 
Perfection and Plenty? 

257. Qu. Whether it be not wonderful, that with such 
Pastures, and so many black Cattle, we do not find our selves 
in Cheese? 

258. Qu. Whether great Profits may not be made by 

Fisheries; but whether our Irish who live by that Business, 
do not contrive to be drunk and unemployed, one half of the 
Year? || 48 


108 


George Berkeley 


259. Qu. Whether it be not Folly to think, an inward 
Commerce cannot enrich a State, because it doth not encrease 
its Quantity of Gold and Silver? And whether it is possible 
a Country should not thrive, while Wants are supplied, and 
Business goes on? See Part I. qu. 4. 

26 0 . Qu. Whether Plenty of all the Necessaries and 
Comforts of Life be not real Wealth? 

261. Qu. Whether Lyons , by the Advantage of her mid- 
land Situation, and the Rivers Rhone and Sone, be not a 
great Magazine, or Mart for inward Commerce ? And whether 
she doth not maintain a constant Trade with most Parts of 
France, with Provence for Oils and dried Fruits, for Wines 
and Cloth with Languedoc, for Stuffs with Champaign, for 
Linen with Picardy, Normandy and Bretagny, for Corn with 
Burgundy ? 

262. Qu. Whether she doth not receive and utter all 
those Commodities, and raise a Profit from the Distribution 
thereof, as well as of her own Manufacture, throughout the 
Kingdom of France ? 

263. Qu. Whether the Charge, of making good Roads 
and navigable Rivers across the Country, would not be really 

49 repaid by an inward Commerce ? || 

264. Qu. Whether as our Trade and Manufactures in- 
creased, Magazines should not be established in proper Places, 
fitted by their Situation, near great Roads and navigable 
Rivers, Lakes or Canals, for the ready Reception and Distri- 
bution of all Sorts of Commodities, from and to the several 
Parts of the Kingdom; and whether the Town of Athlone, 
for Instance, may not be fitly situate for such a Magazine, or 
Centre of Domestic Commerce? 

265. Qu. Whether an inward Trade would not Cause 
Industry to flourish, and multiply the Circulation of our 


The Querist 


109 


Coin, and whether this may not do as well as multiplying the 
Coin it self ? 

266. Qu. Whether the Benefits of a Domestic Commerce 
are sufficiently understood, and attended to, and whether the 
Cause hereof be not the prejudiced and narrow Way of think- 
ing about Gold and Silver? See Part I. qu. 116, and 129. 

267. Qu. Whether there be any other more easy and 
unenvied Method of increasing the Wealth of a People ? 

268. Qu. Whether we of this Island are not from our 
peculiar Circumstances determined to this very Commerce 
above any other, from the Number of Necessaries and good 
Things that we possess within our selves, from the Extent 
and || Variety of our Soil, from the navigable Bivers and good 50 
Roads which we have or may have, at a less Expence than any 
People in Europe , from our great plenty of Materials for 
Manufactures, and particularly from the Restraints we lie 
under with regard to our foreign Trade ? 

269. Qu. Whether Commissioners of Trade or other 
proper Persons should not be appointed, to draw up Plans of 
our Commerce both foreign and domestic, and lay them at the 
Beginning of every Session before the Parliament? 

270. Qu. Whether Registers of Industry should not be 
kept, and the Public from Time to Time acquainted, what 
new Manufactures are introduced, what increase or decrease 
of old ones? 

271. Qu. Whether annual Inventories should not be pub- 
lished of the Fairs throughout the Kingdom, in order to judge 
of the Growth of its Commerce? 

272. Qu. Whether there be not every Year more Cash 
circulated at the Card Tables of Dublin, than all the Fairs of 
Ireland? 


110 


George Berkeley 


273. Qu . Whether the Wealth of a Country will not hear 

51 proportion to the skill and Industry of its Inhabitants? || 

274. Qu. Whether foreign Imports that tend to promote 
Industry should not be encouraged, and such as have a Ten- 
dency to promote Luxury should not be discouraged? 

275. Qu. Whether the annual Balance of Trade between 
Italy and Lyons be not about four Millions in Favour of the 
Former, and yet, whether Lyons be not a Gainer by this 
Trade ? 

276. Qu. Whether the general Rule, of determining the 
Profit of a Commerce by its Balance, doth not, like other 
general Rules, admit of Exception? 

277. Qu. Whether it would not be a monstrous Folly to 
import nothing but Gold and Silver, supposing we might do 
it, from every foreign Part to which we trade? And yet, 
whether some Men may not think this foolish Circumstance 
a very happy one? 

278. Qu. But whether w b do not all see the Ridicule of 
the Mogol’s Subjects, who take from us nothing but our 
Silver, and bury it under Ground in order to make sure 
thereof against the Resurrection? 

279. Qu. Whether he must not be a wrong-headed Pa- 
triot or Politician, whose ultimate View was drawing Money 

52 into a Country and keeping it there? || 

280. Qu. Whether it be not evident, that not Gold but 
Industry causeth a Country to flourish? 

281. Qu. Whether it would not be a silly Project in any 
Nation to hope to grow rich by prohibiting the Exportation 
of Gold and Silver? 

282. Qu. Whether there can be a greater Mistake in 
Politics, than to measure the Wealth of a Nation by its Gold 
and Silver? 


The Querist 


111 


283. Qu. Whether Gold and Silver he not a Drug where 
they do not promote Industry? Whether they be not even 
the Bane and Undoing of an idle People ? 

284. Qu. Whether Gold will not cause either Industry 
or Vice to flourish? And whether a Country, where it flowed 
in without Labour, must not be wretched and dissolute like 
an Island inhabited by Buccaneers ? 

285. Qu. Whether Arts and Virtue are not likely to 
thrive, where Money is made a Means to Industry? But 
whether Money without this would be a Blessing to any Peo- 
ple? 

286. Qu. Whether therefore Misisipi, South-Sea, and 

such like Schemes were not calculated for public Ruin? || 53 

287. Qu. Whether keeping Cash at Home, or sending it 
Abroad, just as it most serves to promore Industry, be not the 
real Interest of every Nation? 

288. Qu. Whether Commodities of all Kinds do not 
naturally flow where there is the greatest Demand? Whether 
the greatest Demand for a Thing be not where it is of most 
Use? Whether Money, like other Things hath not its proper 
Use? Whether this Use be not to circulate? Whether there- 
fore there must not of Course he Money where there is a 
Circulation of Industry; and where there is no Industry, 
whether there will he a Demand for Money? 

289. Qu. Whether all such Princes and Statesmen are 
not greatly deceived, who imagine that Gold and Silver, any 
way got, will enrich a Country? See Part I. qu. 45. and 
Part II. qu. 15. 

290. Qu. Whether it is not a great Point to know what 
we would be at ? And whether whole States, as well as private 
Persons, do not often fluctuate for Want of this Knowledge? 


114 


George Berkeley 


306. Qu. Whether, although the Capilary Vessels are 
small, yet Obstructions in them do not produce great Chroni- 
cal Diseases ? 

307. Qu. Whether Faculties are not enlarged and im- 
proved by Exercise ? 

308. Qu. Whether the Sum of the Faculties put into 
Act, or in other Words, the united Action of a whole People 
doth not constitute the Momentum of a State? 

309. Qu. Whether such Momentum he not the real Stock 
or Wealth of a State; and whether its Credit be not propor- 
tional thereunto? 

310. Qu. Whether in every wise State the Faculties of 
the Mind are not most considered ? 

311. Qu. Whether every Kind of Employment, or Busi- 
ness, as it implies more Skill and Exercise of the higher 
Powers, be not more valued ? 

312. Qu. Whether the Momentum of a State doth not 
58 imply the whole Exertion of its Facul || ties, Intellectual and 

Corporeal; and whether the latter without the former, could 
act in Concert? 

313. Qu. Whether the divided Force of Men, acting 
singly and unadvisedly, would not be a Rope of Sand ? 

314. Qu. Whether the particular Motions of the Mem- 
bers of a State, in opposite Directions, will not destroy each 
other, and lessen the Momentum of the Whole; hut whether 
they must not conspire to produce a great Effect? 

315. Qu. Whether the ready Means to put Spirit into 
this State, to fortify and increase its Momentum , would not 
be a National Bank, and plenty of small Cash? 


The Querist 


115 


316. Qu. Whether private Endeavours without Assist- 
ance from the Public, are likely to advance our Manufactures 
and Commerce to any great Degree? But whether, as Bills 
uttered from a National Bank, upon private Mortgages, would 
facilitate the Purchases and Projects of pri||vate Men, even 59 
so the same Bills uttered on the public Security alone, may 
not answer public Ends, in promoting new Works and Manu- 
factures throughout the Kingdom? 

317. Qu. Whether that which employs and exerts the 
Force of a Community deserves not to be well considered, and 
well understood? 

318. Qu. Whether the immediate Mover, the Blood and 
Spirits, be not Money, Paper or Metal, and whether the Soul 
or Will of the Community, which is the prime Mover that 
governs and directs the Whole, be not the Legislature ? 

319. Qu. Supposing the Inhabitants of a Country, quite 
sunk in Sloth, or even fast asleep, whether upon the gradual 
Awakening and Exertion, first, of the Sensitive and Loco- 
motive Faculties, next of Reason and Reflection, then of 
Justice and Piety, the Momentum of such Country or State, 
would not, in proportion thereunto, become still more and 
more considerable? 

320. Qu. Whether that which is last attained, and is the 

finishing Perfection of a People, be not the first Thing lost 
in their Declension? || 60 

321. Qu. Whether Force be not of Consequence, only as 
it is exerted; and whether great Force without great Wisdom 
may not be a Nuisance ? 

322. Qu. Whether the Force of a Child applied with 
Art, may not produce greater Effects than that of a Giant? 
And whether a small Stock in the Hands of a wise State, 


AUG 25 1910 


116 George Berkeley 

may not go further, and produce more considerable Effects, 
than immense Sums in the Hands of a foolish one? 

323. Qu. Whether as many as wish well to their Country 
ought not to aim at increasing its Momentum ? 

324. Qu. Whose Fault is it if poor Ireland still con- 
tinues poor? 


FINIS. 

ERRATA. 

Page 4. Line 13 for Silklace, read Silk, Lace, p. 30 1. 7 r. 
61 Prices, p. 32 1. 21 r. to be. p. 39, 1. 8 r. as Mills. || 




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